Can Nurse Practitioners Become Doctors?

popopopo · May 23, 2017

Although true that schools autoscreen low gpa/mcat, healthcare experiences are highly prized. It's not worth nothing. Schools are transparent about these bottom floor numbers. I wouldn't apply to Harvard med with a 3.0 and average mcat. Secondary essays themselves are sometimes automatic, which may be just a way to milk some extra money from students who may have had no chance to begin with. It's a self-selecting process and not many cast a wide net. Schools still need to accept people with good gpa/mcat so they can pass medical school, which would entail a long career of more test taking like the USMLEs.

PMFB-RN, RN · May 23, 2017

There is a newer 3 years medical school that just opened 26 miles from my house. Its a branch campus of the Medical College of Wisconsin. This is regular medical school and not something for existing PA/NP and uses traditional admissions criteria. The dean is my next door neighbor (only lives 1.5 miles down the road), our sons play basketball together and are in boy scouts together. She told me that they have FINALLY realized that if you want physicians to practice in rural areas, you need to train people who have ties to those areas and already enjoy a rural lifestyle. So admission preference if given first to well qualified local candidates, if there are empty seats they are offered to those on the wait list at the main campus in Milwaukee.

While nursing is doing all it can to raise the time and money investment required to became an NP (DNP), thus making it more difficult for NPs to afford to practice in rural/under served (lower paying) areas, while the medical world is attempting to address the high investment required for medical education so that more of their graduates can afford to do primary care.

pthelper777, BSN, RN · May 26, 2017

Why would a nurse/NP want to? Very different philosophies.

Trauma Columnist · May 26, 2017

Moved to APRN forum

popopopo · Jul 16, 2017

Because they believe there is a difference between practicing in that profession and practicing a profession that is "kind of like" that where someone can "do many of the things" people do in that profession. And for some of them it is because they believe that in order to do those things well, they require the experience gained in significant exposure to the "nightmare" of spending a lot of time with sick patients. Suffice it to say, their goals and desires go way beyond "status".

This is a beautiful summary. I see autonomy as a privilege to use all the medical training I'm about to receive. Equal practice rights for NP or not, a medical education cannot be replace. I really love learning and I hope to make the best of it. It's not always about finances, but realizing what you want out of life.

Trauma Columnist · Jul 19, 2017

APRNs (and I've been one for 11+ years) are not looking to replace physicians. However, the harsh reality is that medicine is a business. We (APRNs AND MDs) bring money to the pockets of our business, whether it is a private practice, hospital or some other organization. So, it makes business sense to hire cheaper labor that can do a similar (notice I did not say SAME) job. We (APRNs) cost less then physicians so that is why we will continue as a profession.

My only regret in my education is that I didn't complete an MBA

kkit · Jul 22, 2017

most medical schools require your prerequisites to be within the past 5 years, I believe. So it is unlikely many FNPs would qualify. I mean, how long ago did you take biochemistry? or physics? But, also, why would anyone want to do this? We became nurses instead of doctors for a reason.