qualification misrepresentation?

[rkaz]

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[JaggerPlate]

Hi all. I have seen threads before with N.D.s and D.C.s referring to them as family physicians (and I have participated in those threads as well). Although I personally find many naturopaths and chiropractors to be great educators (and have many friends in these professions as well), it still makes me cringe a bit when I see them refer to themselves as general or family-practice physicians.

I was reading a local magazine today, and saw an ad for a med (dermatology) spa in my area, called Physician Skin Solutions. I saw the docs pictures at the bottom, with one labeled 'Dr. Shannon XXXXX, on-site full-time physician'. For whatever reason I was wondering if she was an MD or a DO, so I checked out the webpage listed, and this is what I found: http://www.physicianskinarrowhead.com/bio.html She refers to herself as a 'medical director' and as having completed her 'medical doctorate'. Although her website concerns me, it still isn't as bad as the actual ad, as no-where in the ad is the term 'naturopathic' used, as she flatly refers to herself as a 'physician' there with no qualifier.

This post isn't any sort of attack at naturopathic medicine or ND education, as I respect what NDs do and have even visited them previously as a client. However, my reason for posting this is that I feel an ND should not misrepresent himself or herself as a physician having completed residency education, or act like a dermatologist. Isn't there anything that can be done to stop this misrepresentation?

I don't know if it's blatant misrepresentation, but it's BS regardless. I've seen this issue several times with NDs and cosmetic derm, and each time it's been in AZ. I think they have very liberal rules when it comes to NDs in general. The website is misleading, but the ad you're referring to may have some actual legal issues. Could probably report it to the AZ BOM if you really wanted to.

 

[rkaz]

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[JaggerPlate]

I might forward a copy of the ad to AZBOM, to see if they have any response or not. It's hard for me personally to take a huge activist role against this issue because I have too many ND and naturopathic student friends, who might take my action in a negative light (though I don't think this is a personal attack on them at all, but ONLY on NDs who try to portray themselves as full-fledged medical doctors). So my hands are a bit tied. I think the ad is grossly misleading because anyone coming to the clinic based on the ad would think they are getting skin treatment from a center with conventional medical oversight, when this is clearly not the case. Unless this issue is dealt with, I think this issue is only is going to get worse. Unless there is some way to show equivalency of ND education to MDs/DOs, I feel that referring to themselves as 'family physician' or the like is not appropriate.

Agreed on almost all fronts. What really bugs me about the derm aspect is that I hope unsuspecting patients aren't trying to use the clinic for medical (aka non-cosmetic) derm as well. Even if someone came in for a botox shot, for example, and asked (just on the fly) about a suspicious mole that the ND shrugged off or said not to worry about ... big potential for trouble in my novice opinion.

Another thing that I find odd with Naturopaths is the use of ND versus NMD. From what I can gather, most of the degrees bestowed are ND, but in certain regions the NMD can be used? I think the fact that the MD is nuzzled there in the middle (which both docs in that practice use) makes it UBER confusing for an unsuspecting patient.