Posted by Josh BSN RN on September 1, 2008, 12:15 am, in reply to "Re: National shortage"
As a patient advocate, I would not instruct a patient to see a family practice doc to get their epidural steroid injection series done. As a patient advocate, I also wouldn't instruct them to see an anesthesiologist or a CRNA that has only done several hundreds of them.
Instead, being the patient advocate that I am, I would recommend they see a pain doc that has done 15K plus epidural steroid injections...like the two docs I work with.
In addition to being a murse, I am an acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist. I'm smart and have good training. I've even done an internship in China. But if a patient comes in for herbs that is out of my league, I swallow my ego and refer them on to one of the most experienced and better trained providers in my area.
Only ego would make one think that since they have done hundreds of LESI's or TESI's that they are at level of competence that even approaches a residency-trained anesthesiologist that has completed a pain fellowship.
