DNP should be the Minimum Entry Practice

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