Change of Name.

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Specializes in Emergency,.

Would I be crazy to suggest that we change the name of Nurse Practitioners?

I would like to see us REMOVE the Nures from our names.

We are primary providers, not nurses.

I think it is a confusing term and demeans our practice.

thoughts?

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Why should the term "Nurse" in NP be demeaning?

We have had so many strong nurse leaders in our profession - here are some of my faves: Lillian Wald, Margaret Sanger, Bobbi Campbell, Mary Breckinridge (please google these people if you don't know who they are!), and many contemporary nurse leaders making a huge difference in the world. They are researchers, they have founded clinics, they are advancing health policy. It is partly because of their legacy that I am proud to have the NURSE in nurse practitioner and to consider myself a nurse.

I would also stipulate that as nurse practitioners, we do incorporate elements of the nursing approach and philosophy into our practice. It reminds us to focus on the patient's response to illness vs. being trained solely in the medical model. I would argue that it is partly our roots in nursing that allow us to be such skilled educators and primary care providers.

Being connected to nursing also helps us integrate more smoothly into global health arenas. PA's do not have an international equivalent, which can make finding this type of work a challenge. For example, doctors without borders can accept advanced practice nurses but not PA's.

Our job is to improve the image of nursing, share our stories, talk about the great work that nurses do every single day, and educate the public about our role as nurse practitioners.

SkiBumNP, I am curious to hear more about why you feel the way you do? I am sure there will be a lot of perspectives on this.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Playing devil's advocate here, I work in a specialty. (I'm not an NP, rather a CNS) but I work with several FNPs - what would they be called?)

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It's so crazy, this naming thing. I work on a team with myself (ANP), an FNP and a PA. NOBODY knows what to call us! We're not all NPs, we're not all PAs. The term "midlevel" seems to be insulting to a lot of people across the board. So now they're referring to us as AP for "advanced practitioners." It's whatever, but I do wish there could be some sort of national standard, just for the sake of clarity. I kinda like NPP for "non-physician provider" because I think it is very descriptive and easily understandable.

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Specializes in ICU.

Nurse practitioner is still a nurse, if just called them "Practitioners" that could be misinterpreted as physician, which NP's are not.

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

I get your point about the title "Nurse Practitioner" being confusing. To someone not familiar with what we do, the role can be easily misconstrued as someone who is a practitioner of nursing not different from any other RN or LPN/LVN. However, our profession has been using this title since the inception of the role and the public is gaining a better understanding of our status as providers that I feel it's now counter-productive to change the title. Also, the title Nurse Practitioner is an official taxonomy for our job classification used in all legal, state and federal documents. Such a change will be a daunting task just because of its impact. As a nurse practitioner myself, I feel that we can serve the profession better if we act as amabassadors in representing our distinct role as nurses with advanced training to the public we serve. Our actions do a lot more in educating the public about what it means to be a nurse practitioner.

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Specializes in ICU.

Just to add to the thread consider this: an MD/DO who just does their intern year and becomes boarded as a GP. GP=General Practicioner, he is a physician, a Nurse Practicioner is not, if you removed nurse and just left practicioner would be extremely misleading to patients.

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Specializes in Cardiac, Pulmonary, Anesthesia.

First, the Nurse Practitioner name has been publicized quite a bit and it would be detrimental to PR if a change were to happen. Maybe not the end of the world, but it would just add a hurdle.

Secondly, NPs practice nursing. This shouldn't be demeaning. It is actually a great thing because the alternative is to practice medicine. If NPs did that, then they would have to answer to the BOM. They would rail NPs into oblivion. The name, as it is, is a good thing.

PAs on the other hand, well they need a name change and bad.

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agreed, Abe. Because NPs technically practice "nursing" (and NOT "medicine"), NPs have managed to really set the tone and control their own field and future, as opposed to PAs.

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Specializes in Family NP, OB Nursing.
Would I be crazy to suggest that we change the name of Nurse Practitioners?

I would like to see us REMOVE the Nures from our names.

We are primary providers, not nurses.

I think it is a confusing term and demeans our practice.

thoughts?

We are primary providers, but what are we the primary providers of is the question. If we say medicine, then we are going down a path that leads us to be controlled by the MD/DOs, the AMA and the boards of medicine. This is not where I want to go because as I talk to friends of mine who are PAs they are struggling for their autonomy, things that we as NPs already have. I have more autonomy in my state than they do.

I agree with Abe and myelin, we have what we have because we ARE nurses,

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I agree with you,we need to remove the nurse name out of the NP title. I am a medical providernot a floor nurse. I give order and interpret test, not take patientassignments and do bedpan specialist work. Too bad we got a lot of idiots inthis profession that cannot see how degrading the title is.

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Family Medical Practitioner

OR DOCTOR

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