DNP should be the Minimum Entry Practice

[nqe9650]

I am just curious if there are any other practicing NPs who are as concerned as I am regarding the multiple online, distance, and Masters Programs available. I feel as though we may be a bit of a laughing stock among the healthcare community, in that we are the only allied health professionals who will allow such inconsistency among the different types of preparation to do what we do. You can be an LPN and call yourself a nurse, an RN with an associates degree or a bachelors, or a nurse practitioner with a Masters or Doctorate In primary care, I remember hearing that NPs are the wave of the future, and will be the driving force in the healthcare market to deal with the primary care shortage. I always thought that this was a bit difficult to understand considering the vast differences between my educational experience and that of physicians. Medical school for a family practice doctor is full time, and so busy that they are incapable of working. Following their education, they are provided with a residency program that prepares them to do what they do. We as NPs, should hold ourselves to the same standards in my opinion if we expect to be considered equal. I also wonder what the rest of the medical community thinks of the inconsistencies in nursing education and minimum requirements for entry level practice. I hate to say it, but I have been a preceptor to a few online Masters program students, and find them ill prepared and not really invested in this as a career but rather a job. They are in clinic a few days a week, and generally all still have the ability to work full time. They lack the face to face competition and emersion that a traditional school provides. Likely, these students are not in primary care as there are very limited positions available to RNs in these areas, but rather hospital jobs that will likely not be associated with their end goal. I am merely playing devils advocate, as a full time Family DNP, Working on a board certification in Emergency medicine. I have had multiple discussions with physicians that I work beside, explaining the difference between my degree, the other MSNs that work here, and PAs. I found it interesting that during our discussion, the topic of PA education was also weaved in. I found it interesting that the PAs in my group explained that the intensity of their programs prohibited them from working as well. I Have to say, that when I go to a primary care provider, I want to have the person who thought it was important enough to focus on their schooling in the same way as their colleagues, and was held to just as high of standards, and that this is a uniform standard measure across the nation. A provider that did not take the easiest route to achieving a goal. Not sure how you all feel about it, I just don't want to see NPs be seen as something less than we are capable of, and would really like us to live up to the assumption that we are as good, or equal to the physicians we work next to. I fear that these things truly need to change

[kakamegamama]

Demonstrations of competency will answer your concerns, I believe. The level/method of education does not necessarily mean that a provider is competent......the ability to successfully take the certifications exams does initially and the quality of patient care thereafter. Online/distance programs can be effective and provide a quality education....I know, because I have a post MASTER'S certification as a NP and believe me, the program was rigorous. I concern myself with how I can improve my level of care I give those who are my patients rather than focus on what others in the medical community think of me.

Also, I seem to detect of bit of an air of superiority in your post regarding LPNs/LVNs calling themselves nurses, and ADNs as well as BSNs being RNs, (main difference is the amount of theory the BSN prepared nurse vs the ADN prepared encounters, along with the courses that proved the bachelor's component of the BSN.) It would probably serve you well to rethink how you post on this forum as there are many who are LPNs/LVNs as well as ADNs and BSNs as well as non-DNP NPs.

Again, let's prove ourselves as APRNs by the quality of care we deliver rather than our degree.

My 2 cents worth.

[Purple_roses]

How original.

[llg, PhD, RN]

If you think that so many NP's are so inadequately prepared, thus making the role in general "inferior" to PA's and MD's ... why did you choose to become an NP? Did you not know what group you were choosing to join?

Anyone who wants the exact some education as PA's or MD's should choose a PA or MD program. People should choose the career/educational path that best suits their needs and matches best with their personal philosophies.

[Purple_roses]

If you think that so many NP's are so inadequately prepared, thus making the role in general "inferior" to PA's and MD's ... why did you choose to become an NP? Did you not know what group you were choosing to join?

Anyone who wants the exact some education as PA's or MD's should choose a PA or MD program. People should choose the career/educational path that best suits their needs and matches best with their personal philosophies.

Exactly. NPs aren't held to the same standards because NPs are NOT here to replace doctors. They are here to provide quality mid-level care, which reduces health care costs.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

Upteenth time in a row:

if Master's prepared nurses, who are wastly outnumbering DNPs, are so poorly prepared, how comes that study upon study shows that as a pooled body, NPs provide equal or better care than MDs/DOs within comparable areas? Where are worsening outcomes?

[Scottishtape]

"You can be an LPN and call yourself a nurse".

Uhhh...because LPNs ARE NURSES. They go through NURSING school, they pass the NCLEX, and are awarded a NURSING license by their Board of NURSING.

You didn't seriously just pull that utter BS, did you? Please.

This post it the epitome of snobbery in nursing. Nickel please.

[cleback]

Exactly. NPs aren't held to the same standards because NPs are NOT here to replace doctors. They are here to provide quality mid-level care, which reduces health care costs.

Agree with this... but then I wonder why some NPs are not ok with being called a mid level provider... I get wanting to avoid the hierarchy, be partners in healthcare, blah blah blah, but I have yet to come across another term that succinctly describes our "niche."

[elkpark]

I might be inclined to agree, if it weren't for the fact that MSN-prepared advanced practice nurses, including NPs, have been providing safe, competent care for decades. I'm less enthusiastic about pushing for the DNP than I am about better policing graduate education in nursing and, ideally, getting rid of the "diploma mill" NP (and other nursing graduate degree) programs. (In fact, I'm not enthusiastic about pushing for the DNP at all.)

[Palliative Care, DNP]

As another DNP, I will agree that NP education needs streamlining. There are quality online programs and there are some that never even check on students. My program had faculty members evaluating each student onsite every semester. Like everything else in this world a student gets out what they are willing to put into a program. I know physicians MD and DO that I would not want to be seen by. I also know PAs and NPs that you couldn't pay me to see. Quality providers come in every type MD, DO, NP, and PA. Instead of comparing maybe become part of the solution and push for changes.

[Simplistic]

No, it definitely SHOULD NOT be.

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

Get over yourself. DNP as entry level for nursing?