Another day in Pediatrics

Well, now that all have come back from Easter vacation, I am trying to get back "into the routine". Then when I get to my office I find out that the big Pediatric group in my area has decided to drop their privleges in both of the hospitals that I am on staff leaving my partner and I to cover the hospital by ourselves. Lots of "on call" for us who are now in the mid fifty range. So what a dilemma to work with. In the eyes of the changing reform, we may have to change the way we work with our hospitals. When I called our hospital Medical Director, he said they were not sure how they may react and may even close the pediatrics ward and we then would have to send our patients 30 miles down south to be admitted. The truth is that we probably only had about 6 admissions the whole year. Most of our patients are taken care of in house with IV's in the clinic and Asthma care all day long. My partner and I have discussed the changing environment and we may have to adapt by adding more hours and weekend visits. Another announcement today is that the nurse practitiones in the state think they are "entitled" to write prescriptions and deliver the same quality of care as physicians. They have been trying to get this law changed for over 10 years. Florida is only 1 of 2 states that does not allow N.P.'s to write narcotics and ADHD meds. But the question is "Are they really the same as physicians" If they were, then why didn't they go to medical school. Well, that's all till next week.