Mid-level Mortification Part 2
“I really hate it when a nurse-practitioner is called a mid-level provider”. Mid-level provider is not a legal or academic term. It is slang developed to demean or minimize a health professional who is not an MD. The term “mid-level provider” is aimed at nurse-practitioners (NP’s), as well as physician assistants (PA’s), and certified nurse-midwives. It is insulting to health professionals as well as to the patients that they serve. Mid-level implies that he or she provides middle-of-the-road or average care. Who then delivers high-level care? It must be the MD, of course. So who delivers the lowest level of care? Nurses?