I finally have my 1st appt for bariatric surgery but it is w/ a nurse practitioner instead of surgeon...anyone else have this? What type of questions should I ask since it is not w/ the surgeon.

All my appointments were with the surgeon. But I'm sure if he trusts this person then they must be knowledgable. Plus, its just the first appointment. You'll probably have another two or three with the surgeon. Good luck!

1 hour ago, HAPPYTRACE said:

I finally have my 1st appt for bariatric surgery but it is w/ a nurse practitioner instead of surgeon...anyone else have this? What type of questions should I ask since it is not w/ the surgeon.

I met my surgeon on the day of my surgery. All my appointments before that were all with a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant. I was told I could schedule an appointment with the surgeon if I had any questions, but I know a lot of people who had him as their surgeon and they were happy with their results so... I didn't feel the need. I don't regret it either. He did a good job and the one time I met him on my surgery day, he was nice. The nurse practitioner I usually see in his office is really nice. There is a physicians assistant I saw quite a bit too who is nice, but always behind. There was this one b*tch of a physician's assistant though that I had them put down on my file to never give me her again because she was rude and I absolutely despised her. She made me feel like sh*t the one time I met her.

I saw my surgeon twice. Once for the initial consultation and day of surgery. My pre- and post-op appointments have all been with the nurse practitioner. She also was assisting with his surgeries, but has recently stopped doing this so she can focus on patients in the office. She is great! I am a nurse and a huge fan of nurse practitioners. They always seem to take more time to talk about whatever is going on. My surgeon is awesome, but I will see his nurse practitioner anytime. ?

it's not unusual. If I'm not mistaken, nurse practitioners have advanced degrees (master's or PhD) in nursing, and in some states, they can serve as primary care providers. Although the training is different than PA's (physician's assistant), my sense is that they're more or less considered to be at the same level. My clinic has a PA, and he does a lot of the initial and follow-up appointments. I think I only met with the surgeon once before seeing him again the morning of my surgery.

I actually switched surgeons because of that exact situation. They wanted me to go 10 weeks before an appointment with him. Id met with the shrink,and nutritionist twice, and still no surgeon. Wasn't going to work for me. Had an appointment with another surgeon in a few days, and 10 weeks later, I had surgery.

So far I've had one video call with my surgeon that lasted like 45 minutes. He introduced himself, asked me how I came to find him, explained the different procedures, showed me diagrams, went over my medical history, told me which procedure he suggested for me and why, then allowed me to ask as many questions as I wanted. At the end of it he said we'd meet again at least one more time before the procedure. He also encouraged me to come up with more questions to ask him (should I have any) for the next visit. I felt good about our visit and got good vibes from him which was good.

My first appointment they actually sat me down with a nurse, dietician, and the surgeon. The time with the surgeon was actually really brief, and the nurse handled more of the appointment and education side. Surgeon basically came in and went "yup, you're a good candidate and this is the surgery I'd recommend", and the nurse pressed a bit on getting an additional test done to make sure that was a good choice since I'm self-pay. Looking back, had it been with just the nurse, I think I would have been just as satisfied with the appointment. The surgeon was nice enough, but the nurse was the one to really listen and take my concerns into consideration, and she was super knowledgeable.

On 3/3/2021 at 8:33 PM, HAPPYTRACE said:

I finally have my 1st appt for bariatric surgery but it is w/ a nurse practitioner instead of surgeon...anyone else have this? What type of questions should I ask since it is not w/ the surgeon.

My first appointment was with an NP too. I see you are in Arizona, as am I. Are you in the Tucson area by chance? My experience is that the nurse practitioner spends more time with me than the surgeon, and can answer all of my questions. The surgeon has actually spent very little time with me and I have only seen him twice in the office. All of my postop care has been with the NP.