Doctors blackballing NPs/DNPs

[mslinzyann]

Lately I've been on a particular board dedicated to doctors and student doctors and there has been a lot of talk about/ a lot of fear about DNPs and NPs in general. Many of the doctors and pre-med students on the board have even discussed the idea that doctors should band together to not hire NPs, and hire PAs again.

I find this to be dismaying for me personally, as the fields I am interested in are all primarily geared towards NP rather than PA- peds, nurse midwife, neonatal, ect. However, I want to know what the nurses take to this is- are nurses going to be so aggressive that they turn the 'big dogs' of medicine against them? Will NPs attempt to expand their scope of practice beyond what is safe for patients?

I feel there is a place in medicine for midlevels, but midlevels aren't doctors, either.

[amzyRN]

I've heard from other APNs on this site that they think NPs are "practicing medicine". I don't know what practicing medicine and don't know enough about nursing to know what practicing nursing is either. I do know that pathophysiology, pharmacology, physical assessment skills are taught in both nursing and medical school. Two years of med school go into depth with anatomy, physio, patho, and pharm. That is really quite generic to me and I think that nursing school tries to provide some of that in their nursing curriculum, just a different blend. What I am suggesting is that NPs could delve just as deep into the medical science part of health care and also learn how to apply those skills as a nurse. The idea that nursing and medicine are two totally different fields, that practicing nursing is only that, and practicing medicine is only that, is a misconception. The lines are often blurred.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

jzzy88 - again - can you give me a source for this info? I've been a nurse for well over 16 years and been an APN for 2 years now - the sciences of medicine and nursing ARE different. Maybe I'm not understanding what you are saying. This conflict that you are discussing just isn't found often in the real world of medicine and nursing. In all this time being a nurse, I really haven't come across much strife.

[amzyRN]

What I'm referring to is the anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, part of bio-medical science. The anatomy doesn't change because it's taught in a nursing school, right? It may be less involved, but it's the same stuff. The pathophysiology of HIV does not change because it's taught at a nursing school or a medical school, it's still the mechanism of HIV infection. Medical schools go deeper into the biochemistry of the disease process than nursing schools go into. That's the difference though is depth. If nursing schools went into more depth with the pathophysiology, or even as much depth, it would be the same stuff, exactly. I don't know if that makes things clearer or not. Thanks for all of your thoughts and response to my posts.