My experience wasn't especially unfortunate, as I did end up getting appropriate treatment. What was alarming to me was the statements made by the nurses that revealed a degree of outright medical ignorance that speaks to the inadequacy of their training. It's just way less rigorous than medical training, especially when the NP is not working in a limited specialty.

The next day, I did see a note on the door of the Urgent Care clinic that said that patients complaining of abdominal pain should bypass U.C. and go directly to the ER.

What I said about D.O.s is that they come out of programs whose admission standards are generally less selective than those of medical schools that train MDs. Make of that what you will. (I'll cite a reference when I'm not on a mobile device.)

I actually did go to a DO once, who told me that my neck pain was a myofascial problem and totally reversible. An MD told me it was degenerative disk disease, and that is not reversible. The radiologist's report on my xray and MRI supported the opinion of the MD. I would not have a DO as my primary provider, but that's just me.