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Updated: 7:08 PM Nov 19, 2009
Rockford Health Patients Choose Nurse Practitioners Over Doctors
Doctor's visits hardly even involve the doctor anymore. In many cases we spend the bulk of our time with the nurse. Nurse practitioners play a pivotal role in improving our health, and right now patients are choosing them over their own doctor.
Posted: 6:16 PM Nov 19, 2009Reporter: Tyaisha Robinson |
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1 Comments 
"I rarely have anybody say to me, what is a nurse practitioner anymore. people are pretty educated and they've come to realize we provide excellent care," says Elizabeth Mendeloff.
Family nurse practitioner Elizabeth Mendeloff at UIC Family Health Systems in Rockford is diagnosing her profession in perfect health. Mendeloff is one of many nurse practitioners in our area. Her job duties are similar to those of doctors. The only big thing she lacks is the initials MD after her title.
"I perform complete physicals. I treat and diagnose acute and chronic illnesses, and prescribe medications." Mendeloff says her goal is to teach patients about healthy lifestyles and disease prevention.
There was a time when patients were hesitant to sit up on the exam table if they were seeing a nurse practitioner. Today it's different. Mendeloff says, "Ten years ago when a person would come into the clinic and they were told they're going to see the nurse practitioner, they would be like, what I want to see a real doctor. Now ten years later I think a lot of times people will come in and be like wait a minute I want to see the nurse practitioner."
But, regardless who we see in the exam room, the healthcare professionals work as a team when it comes to monitoring our health.
UIC Medical Health Systems currently has nine registered nurse practitioners, but there are nearly 125,000 thousand nationwide.
Latest Comments
I am seeing this as well in my office. Most of my patients prefer to see NPs because of our abilities to truly listen to their issues. We treat the entire patient, not just the disease. I love my job and encourage others to pursue becoming a nurse practitioner. I enjoy the ability to help my patients take care of themselves and to see the positive outcomes makes it all worthwhile. http://www.arnp.blogspot.com
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