Choosing a Dermatologist
Is there a Doctor in your dermatologist’s office? Maybe Not!
The Florida Society of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery is concerned about the small number of doctors (often with multiple offices), who use non-physicians to see and treat patients without direct supervision. We believe that when you pay to see a specialist, you should be seen by no one less qualified.
A Dermatologist completes 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school and (at least) 4 years of postgraduate residency training in order to be qualified as a specialist. “Physician Extenders” such as ARNPs (nurse practitioners) and PAs (physician assistants) are not medical doctors, and they do not complete a certified residency training program. They usually learn dermatology from the doctor they work for. The question is, how much can one learn if the supervising doctor is not present?
PA programs are usually two years of general medicine and do not require a four year college degree. Many physician extenders, at best, have only a few weeks of dermatology training. There is no requirement that nurse practitioners (ARNPs) or physician assistants (PAs) obtain specialty training to function as a specialist. The gap in knowledge between even the best trained PA or ARNP and a fully trained dermatologist is enormous.
Unfortunately, current law allows the “supervising physician” to let a physician extender (ARNP or PA) diagnose prescribe and perform surgery without the physician being present. The physician extender’s charges are usually the same as a board-certified specialist, but total costs may be higher if more visits are required to solve a problem.