I am not offended at all by your reply, and the comments I made in my post are not an attempt to tow some company line that nurses are more empathetic than doctors. I am of the belief that all of us engage in this kind of work due to our desire to help others, but I do hear those comments often. It may be in part due to the fact that I absorbed a large portion of my patients from a doc that was in his 80's when he retired a couple of years ago. Regardless, the NP/PA vs MD/DO battle is beginning to infiltrate this sub and I feel like it is detrimental to the primary purpose of why individuals are coming to this sub. I am 100% in agreement that physician's formal training and education exceeds mine as NP and this is why I have focused on eliminating those knowledge gaps through independent learning and continuing education. There are crummy providers everywhere whether they are PA, NP, or MDs, I am sure you see questionable treatment decisions regularly as I do coming from everywhere. I do however believe that the level of care I provide is equivalent to that of the psychiatrists I work with in my current practice and although they may have opinions on the dynamics of NP/PA scope, independence etc, they would be hard pressed to find evidence that I am not using an evidence based approach to treatment, making questionable clinical decisions or frequently neglecting patient concerns. I hope you have a great day and rest of your week.