Teaching Nurse Practitioners

Katie Bries, ARNP, taught the Bone Health section for the Nurse Practitioner students at Allen College this year.  She did a great job covering the basics.  Unfortunately, she had time only for the basics.  This is true in teaching NPs everywhere.  It is true of all aspects of medicine when teaching MDs, DOs, PAs, and all others.  There is only time for the basics.

Any Healthcare Provider who wants to fully master a subject must take “Electives” for additional training in the field they plan to focus on in practice.  With MDs and DOs there are formal “Residencies” lasting 3 or more years after graduation.  NP and PA students take “Clinicals” in various fields before, and sometimes after, graduation.  Cedar Valley Bone Health has hosted clinicals for local and out-of-state Providers.

Teaching others interested in Bone Health is enjoyable and educational for us too.  Students ask the darndest questions.  They push you to the edges of what you know.

Sometimes you don’t know, and cannot look it up either.  That is when I attend a “meet the expert” session at one of the national meetings.   I hear the latest, most educated guess.

Medicine is constantly advancing.  Nearly half of what I learned in 2007, when I attended my first NOF meeting, is out of date.  That is why Katie and I are both attending NOF this year.  That is why we attend meetings specifically about Bone Health every year.  We bring you the very latest information, before it is published or widely known.

Jay Ginther, MD

Categorised in: Bone Health, Healthcare Professionals