Nurse practitioner?

So I have been promising my husband for some time now I will find a pdoc, get reevaluated to make sure I have the correct diagnosis and maybe start meds. However our insurance recently changed (and is awful...) most psychiatrists covered in my area are psychiatric nurse practioners. Does anyone use an NP vs MD? Is there any difference?

I see one at a university. But all they ever did was increase or decrease my dosage. We never tried different meds. But I'm on 3 blood pressure and cholesterol meds that making fooling around with psych meds kind of impossible anyway, from what I read on the internet about increasing heart rate or risk for diabetes that many have. She gets stuff approved by a "real" psychiatrist tho somewhere along the line I think.

My son sees a NP but unfortunately her masters training was in diabetes not mental health. The only reason he sees her is because she is free. We are looking for a 'real' pdoc that has a sliding scale fee.

I see a np who is overseen by a pdoc. It works great for me. I wouldn't look down on nurse practitioners.

A lot depends on the state where the NP practices. In Oregon, the regulations are less strict than in some other states. I have a good friend who's a psych nurse practitioner and she has prescriptive authority, although there is a psychiatrist in the practice where she works who consults on the more complex cases and when needed.

She does pretty much everything the MD does and oversees hospitalized patients during her on-call rotation every six weeks. I'd recommend her to anyone.....of course, I can't see her for my mental health care because she's my friend. (I also happen to have a fantastic psychiatrist who is wise, funny, and great at what he does, so I have no plans to leave his care anyway.)

Bottom line is, a psych NP can be every bit as good, if not better, than an MD. I wouldn't hesitate to see one if I needed to. Good luck to you!

I love NPs. They seem to be more receptive and take more time with me. They are also more accessible.

Not for psychiatry, no, but I used to have a terrific pediatric NP. Excellent and one of a kind.

I've been so spoiled by excellent physicians that I am wary of NP's, but I completely realize that my feelings are based on absolutely nothing but my own preference for my wonderful doctors.

I suspect, as in all things medical, there are good and bad. You just have to be able to distinguish which type you have gotten matched up with.

We have doctors who have not qualms about spending literally hours with us if that is what it takes, so I can't imagine that a NP would be able to do more than that. We have doctors who really listen to us and talk to us and collaborate with us, so I can't imagine that a NP would be able to do more than that. We have doctors who are able to admit when they have no clear idea what is going on with us, but they tell us their suspicions in order of probability and work from there (I respect that), so I can't imagine that a NP would be able to do more than that.

I guess what I'm saying is those would be the qualities I have learned to expect from my care providers, so I would be looking for those same qualities regardless of the degree.

In our family though, we do have some incredibly complicated health matters that a NP would have to defer to a physician anyway, so I'd much rather cut out the middle man and deal with the physician one-on-one. The rare times that we've had no choice but to see a NP because it was an emergency and short notice, for instance, she ended up going to our doctor anyway to get his input and recommendations so it was kind of silly.

Yes, I prefer to work with physicians, but I suspect there are some excellent NP's who have excellent bedside manner compared to some of the doctors I hear about.

I use a pdoc but my GP is an NP. I think the only difference is 6 years instead of 8 years in there major before specializing.

I love my NP!
Like BipolaRNurse says, regulations (like varying degrees of prescriptive authority) vary from state to state. Mine is a PMHNP (psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner) in a state where they have full prescriptive authority. Like nobodyandnothing says ... more accessible and more time. That is my experience too. She not only does the meds ends of things, but therapy as well. So I don't have to worry about if the person doing my meds really knows what's going on with me, or just has to base things on a quick summation for an in-and-out appt. Also, it means she knows me well enough to be able to "partner" with on meds decisions.

I haven't personally dealt with things psychiatric in NY, but do have one NY PMHNP story. A neighbor/friend whose brother has paranoid schizophrenia had raved about some practitioner. Remembering this, when I was looking, I asked who it was. Turns out it was a PMHNP in NY (where they were originally from, and which did me no good, being in the West. Oh well.). In all the years (like... a couple of decades...) of all they had dealt with in the psychiatric realm, he said this PMHNP was the best thing that ever happened for his brother. And that is truly cool, because he is a great guy.

It's like anything else of course, there are always going to be better and worse in any profession, but this is one story I can relate to dispel any notion that assumes (based simply on account of degree) that they are psychiatric lightweights. I've had positive experiences and would not hesitate in the least to recommend them.

Go PMHNPs!