Bombshell Article by Bloomberg Businessweek

Updated:   Published

The Spotty Training of America's Nurse Practitioners

You can read this on Apple News if you have that.  Unfortunately, you must be a subscriber to read the print article.  Below is a link to a video:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2024-07-24/big-take-the-spotty-training-of-nurse-practitioners-podcast

Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
offlabel said:

Do the accrediting bodies bear any responsibility? Anesthesia training programs and CRNA's are held to extremely high standards for authorization to even open their doors and CE requirements to remain in practice, respectively. As heterogeneous as anesthesia training program quality is, by and large you know what you're getting with a new grad CRNA. Not so much an NP.

They bear a lot of responsibility.  The problem is they are accrediting for-profit schools, which are now graduating more NPs than reputable schools.  These schools will accept anyone with a pulse, and that means churning out a lot of NPs that should not be NPs.  They need to stop this.

 

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.
offlabel said:

Do the accrediting bodies bear any responsibility? Anesthesia training programs and CRNA's are held to extremely high standards for authorization to even open their doors and CE requirements to remain in practice, respectively. As heterogeneous as anesthesia training program quality is, by and large you know what you're getting with a new grad CRNA. Not so much an NP.

Yes, it's the accrediting bodies that are letting us down.  NP education is being devalued at a time when more is being asked of them.  I know there are great programs out there but, if you read the ads on AN, you know many, maybe most, are just looking for a warm body to put in a seat.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.
subee said:

Yes, it's the accrediting bodies that are letting us down.  NP education is being devalued at a time when more is being asked of them.  I know there are great programs out there but, if you read the ads on AN, you know many, maybe most, are just looking for a warm body to put in a seat.

Because the accrediting bodies are likely just a bunch of money hungry greedy admins who see more nurse practitioners as more test money and more money from dues.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
offlabel said:

Do the accrediting bodies bear any responsibility? Anesthesia training programs and CRNA's are held to extremely high standards for authorization to even open their doors and CE requirements to remain in practice, respectively. As heterogeneous as anesthesia training program quality is, by and large you know what you're getting with a new grad CRNA. Not so much an NP.

It is more convoluted in the NP world. There is really no existing accrediting body responsible for accrediting just the NP programs. It has been for years that CCNE is the accrediting body for all nursing programs in the US. CCNE grants 10-year accreditation to all these programs and is never transparent in terms of which Masters or dnp programs met the criteria in a specific school or program. For instance, Walden is accredited by CCNE for their BS, MS, and DNP programs but does not specify if the FNP, AGPCNP, AGACNP, and PMHNP programs were individually reviewed and proved their mettle:

image.thumb.png.3ceedcc5de5229c92f68933254acccfc.png

This is what is frustrating for NP's who have been asking for stricter standards for accreditation. Years ago, CCNE said they will change the rules to require NP programs to make sure clinical sites are arranged by the program so that students would not have to find their own clinical placement sites. Nothing came out of this plan and to this day NP students in some schools are still cold-calling any NP to beg for them to precept. You also see these posts here on allnurses.

What the NP profession needs is an accrediting body specific to our role similar to what CRNA's, CNM's, and even PA's have. I will likely be in retirement before that even happens.

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).

I'm wondering if we can advocate at the state level.  California stricter standards for RN and NP licensing.  Maybe we can advocate that the schools must provide clinicals and they can't be for-profits?  It would probably be easier to do at the state level.  That would put pressure on the CCNE.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

CCNE certainly must be taken to task for their apparent failure to enforce their own standards. Per their own 2024 version of the Standards of Accreditation, the document states: 

image.thumb.png.acee9d12fe994b7cb16afee7b123e37a.png

I hate to keep making Walden as the example but their NP practicum manual states:

image.thumb.png.ff608c26b822f4b71729073053a8cdcd.png

This certainly goes against a statement that says the institution is responsible for providing adequate clinical sites (CCNE standard) vs Walden's policy that students must identify a possible practicum site or potential preceptors. I'm sure other for-profit schools and even some online programs affiliated with brick-and-mortar institutions don't guarantee preceptors.

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.
Corey Narry said:

CCNE certainly must be taken to task for their apparent failure to enforce their own standards. Per their own 2024 version of the Standards of Accreditation, the document states: 

image.thumb.png.acee9d12fe994b7cb16afee7b123e37a.png

I hate to keep making Walden as the example but their NP practicum manual states:

image.thumb.png.ff608c26b822f4b71729073053a8cdcd.png

This certainly goes against a statement that says the institution is responsible for providing adequate clinical sites (CCNE standard) vs Walden's policy that students must identify a possible practicum site or potential preceptors. I'm sure other for-profit schools and even some online programs affiliated with brick-and-mortar institutions don't guarantee preceptors.

Oh, feel free to keeping holding up the name of Walden.  Doonesbury had a lot of fun with Walden also.  

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Specializes in Psychiatry.
subee said:

Oh, feel free to keeping holding up the name of Walden.  Doonesbury had a lot of fun with Walden also.  

I mean Walden is literally just pre packaged modules I'm not even sure what students pay for. The professors are adjunct, they find their own sites, the classes are pre packaged discussion board postings, and the degree is embarrassing and a joke. Why would anyone go there 

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.
MentalKlarity said:

I mean Walden is literally just pre packaged modules I'm not even sure what students pay for. The professors are adjunct, they find their own sites, the classes are pre packaged discussion board postings, and the degree is embarrassing and a joke. Why would anyone go there 

Cheap and easy compared to a legitimate college?  Graduating once more trumps educating.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
MentalKlarity said:

I mean Walden is literally just pre packaged modules I'm not even sure what students pay for. The professors are adjunct, they find their own sites, the classes are pre packaged discussion board postings, and the degree is embarrassing and a joke. Why would anyone go there 

the very definition of a so called school "phoning it in" while the owners sit on "auto pilot" and earning big bucks from students, err...victims.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.
subee said:

Cheap and easy compared to a legitimate college?  Graduating once more trumps educating.

It's actually not cheap. It cost a lot more than a local legit state NP Program 99% of the time. It's a rip off. It's for uneducated consumers who fall for scams. I wouldn't see an NP who went to Walden or Phoenix because their choice of school tells me all I need to know about their judgement 

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.
MentalKlarity said:

It's actually not cheap. It cost a lot more than a local legit state NP Program 99% of the time. It's a rip off. It's for uneducated consumers who fall for scams. I wouldn't see an NP who went to Walden or Phoenix because their choice of school tells me all I need to know about their judgement 

That's true. Even if it were free, it's a bad deal.  

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