Why nurse practitioners and physicians assitants aren’t the same as medical doctors.

Medical practice is not simply caring for simple, common problems.

There has been a strong and largely successful push by advanced practice nurse practitioners (NPs) and physicians assistant (PAs) to practice autonomously as primary care providers. The Florida legislature recently granted advance practice nurse practitioners license to practice independently https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2020-03-11/florida-oks-independent-practice-for-nurse-practitioners. That term, “provider”, has replaced the original, which was “physician”. NPs and PAs have now been elevated from their original designation as mid-level providers of care to acknowledge their more limited education and clinical experience, while primary care physicians have been demoted so that they are now lumped in with mid-levels as “providers.” Many patients do not know the difference and commonly refer to NPs and PAs as their “doctor”.

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Meet Dr. Rick Bosshardt

Dr. Bosshardt attended the Leonard Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami, graduating in 1978. He completed a general surgery residency at the United States Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. His residency term was interrupted from 1979-80 when he served as medical officer aboard the USS Wabash and was deployed to the Western Pacific with an aircraft carrier task force. During that year, the Wabash was involved in the rescue of Vietnamese boat people and was part of operations to end the Iranian hostage crisis in 1980. The USS Wabash crew received several decorations for this deployment, including the Meritorious Unit Commendation. Upon completion of his training, Dr. Bosshardt served as a general surgeon at the United States Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan from 1984-87. During this time, he obtained his board certification from the American Board of Surgery. While in Okinawa, Dr. Bosshardt applied, and was accepted, for residency training in plastic surgery under world-renowned plastic surgeon, D. Ralph Millard, Jr., M.D., at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center in Miami, Florida. He was honorably discharged from the Navy with the rank of Commander in 1987 and completed his plastic surgery training in Miami from 1987-89. Dr. Bosshardt arrived in Lake County in July of 1989 as the first plastic surgeon in the county. He obtained lifetime certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery in 1991. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Since starting in private practice, Dr. Bosshardt has participated regularly in overseas medical missions to provide reconstructive surgery to children with cleft lip, cleft palate. and other problems. His travels have taken him to the Philippines, Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, the West Bank, and Mexico. Dr. Bosshardt performs both cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery in his practice, which has grown to two surgeons working out of a modern facility that houses the only state licensed private surgical suite in Central Florida dedicated exclusively to plastic surgery. He has privileges at Advent Health Waterman and University of Florida Leesburg Hospital.

Why nurse practitioners and physicians assitants aren’t the same as medical doctors.

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