'Mid-Level' and Primary Care 'Providers': Nomenclature That Stings
Posted over 9 years ago by Nicholas M Perrino
"The word 'provider' is commonly used to refer to physicians, physician's assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives.
There's significant resistance from some physicians, including the one above, who don't want to be called 'providers,' categorized with 'lesser-trained and educated' (but safe, competent and licensed) health care providers. Another physician vehemently opposes being called a provider because, it's 'a professional insult...personally demeaning.' Interestingly, advanced practice nurses (nurse practitioners and nurse midwives) who provide primary care suffer the same professional insults when categorized as 'mid-level providers,' 'non-physician prescribers,' or as one recent physician blogger suggested -- 'non-physician prescribers physician's assistants.'
Situating the entire health care workforce hierarchically, with physicians at the top, privileges the care that physicians provide over care provided by other health care providers. We suppose this may be true in our health care system, which is focused on sick care instead of wellness care and illness prevention. If we simply look at primary care however, which includes some preventive health care activities, rigorous research from randomized clinical trials shows that primary care that is provided by nurse practitioners or other advanced practice nurses is equal to the care provided by physicians.
Health care providers have different but overlapping spheres of expertise and training, however we believe that the term "provider" reflects the work of those of us who care for individuals and communities. "Provider" is profession-neutral, which makes sense in the context of patient-centered care: if patients are the center of care, then the individual discipline of the person providing that care shouldn't matter as long as that individual is appropriately educated, trained and competent to provide the care."