Providers For Women Vets; Are Nurse Practicioners The Norm?

[carlie]

My PCP is a male MD

My MHP is a female Psychiatrist, MD

For MST treatment through VA, the patient can

get services provided by a qualified person and

if they complain enough this person will need to be

the sex of the patients demand !

A veteran having MH treatment at and/or paid for by

VA for MST must INSIST in having a provider they are OK

with the providers sex(no pun intended), or treatment will

not be as effective.

VA has a brochure out on MST and this is in the brochure.

And this is irrelevant of whether the patient seeking treatment

for MST is male or female.

You can nail them to the wall on this and if they don't have

someone appropriate in your VA -- Make them provide services

through fee basis.

Hope this helps a vet.

jmho,

carlie

Edited May 1, 2008 by carlie

[Toposurveyor]

cowgirl,

My PCP is a female nurse practitioner. At our VAMC, all the teams are headed by a MD, but the staff are NPs and PAs.

When I was first referrd to the VAMC for Urology consult, in Portland, Ore., my appointment was with a PA. The next was a MD. My next is with the head of the Uro dept. All three are males.

Ed

[mitchell3006]

Cowgirl,

My PC is a female NP. SHe does a great job. I had been being seen by young male MD at ENT. Now a more senior female MD with a bunch more initials behind her name is seeing me. Most of Jackson,MS VAMC primary clinics are staffed by NP it seems. All I have seen have been good folks. Specialty clinics have mostly MDs. Not all as nice as the NPs.

Mark

[purple]

Hi!

I'm new here, but highly interested in this topic. I go to the Dayton VA. My PCP is a male...but I hope to "fire" him soon. He's horrid. My "therapist" is female, but a RN. Not even a NP...but a RN. I don't get to see a pdoc...there aren't enough to go around at Dayton....the RN prescribes my meds................oh yes. Does this happen anywhere else?

There isn't a gyn doc at Dayton (hasn't been the 10 years I've been there)....they just keep "promising" to hire one. So us women vets are seen by whatever doc is available or a RN or NP.

Dayton has some serious issues when dealing with female vets. I'm often called "Sir" and "Mr." During my most recent in-pt stay for cardiac issues....it took them 3 hours to realize I was a female as they had put me in a "male room" so at 3am they insisted on moving me and a male pt to other rooms to make it right. Scary. Very scary.

[Pete53]

I would not mind being called sir at VAMC

VA is a weird animal over my 17 years at VAMC I have had 4 women Docs and all of them were much better than all the rest I have dealt with. I have found that for the most part the Lady Docs seem to take a personal interest in their patients, do more through exams, listen better and explain what they are doing.

Some of the nurses at the VA are better than the Docs

The number one problem is no matter who you see they really don't have the time needed to do a good job and are constrained by cheap VA policies.

[Stu Sanders]

I use the Evansville out patient clinic, my first PCP was a woman Dr. and was lousy, hurried everything, was into mass production, and she left after about 6 months, second PCP is a male and he ain't much better. BUT the nurses are the saving grace there, they really look out for you and really run the place. The specialists are contract and fee basis and they are great, as is the Behavorial Health folks, they are top notch. I have a friend who is a female vet and she sees mostly men, but would have my wife go with herfor alot of appts, the women docs she did see tended to be more caring, at least to her.