No wonder our profession is messed up

[NeuroNP]

Several of us who have gone back to school to become NPs have encountered a lot of animosity from some fellow nurses. We get remarks like, "You think you're better than us?" The other night at work, several of the nurses were complaining that they didn't think they should have to take orders from NPs because, "they're just nurses like me, they're not doctors." Recently one of our nurses had surgery and proclaimed that she didn't want, "some NURSE" (i.e. CRNA) doing her anesthesia, she demanded a doctor.

I was coming here to post this and ask if any of you had encountered that same type of attitude, but then I see yet another post demeaning the DNP and read some of the comments and see that it's no better.

I'm in a DNP program and I'm proud to be. I don't think that I'm any better than an MSN prepared NP. You may think that it's all fluff (and there is some of that, but from talking to my MSN friends, no more than in most MSN programs) but I'm proud of the education that I'm receiving and I have no doubt that I'll be a great nurse practitioner when I'm done. I think it's funny, I can't think of any other profession where obtaining more education is looked down on like it is in nursing.

For the record, I don't plan on calling myself "doctor" for fear of confusing patients. I don't feel that I'm any "better" than an MSN prepared NP or that an MSN is a "joke." I just think it's very telling that in our profession, any attempt to better yourself is looked down on. If you don't want to become an APN, don't. We need good nurses at the bedside. If you have an MSN and don't want to get a DNP, don't. But can we all please stop slamming people who do make that choice?

I want to do research and to teach as well as practice clinically, I realize that I can do that with an MSN, but I felt like the DNP would better prepare me for that. If you don't feel that way, that's your right. If you don't want to teach or be involved in research, that's fine too.

Until we can all respect the choices each of us makes and the contributions we can all make, our profession is never going to advance.

Ahh...that feels better. I'll get of my soapbox now. Bring on the flames...

[Nursecathy123ca]

Certainly you can teach many technical skills in a short time. It's listening to hundreds of lung, bowel, and heart sounds, for example, where those "experience skills" come into play. Showing up with that experience prior to entering NP school has to be a bonus.

At nursing school graduation, I only THOUGHT I knew how to use a stethoscope! Now 14 years of RN experience later, my skill at hearing heart and lung anomalies has increased, and I'm still improving! I learn from the LVNs and MDs and NPs and CNAs with whom I work. God bless us, every one!

[SENSUALBLISSINFL, BSN, RN]

This post is interesting as it validates what I heard recently at my school.

We had to listen to some speeches while different organizations (FNA, HANA, etc), came to talk to us about joining them and the common theme among what was mostly said was that we do not support each other. If we could all support each other we can be strong and make changes in healthcare that will benefit the way we practice (I am graduating this month) and be safe while doing it. NPs are being stopped in legislation to do more because of the strong group hold that doctors have that do not let them, but also because we are not united.

I am hoping this will change by the time I become a nurse, at my age (late forties) I plan to defenitely purse my BSN and maybe my MSN because more knowledge will make me better to attend to my patient, but I encourage young people in my class to go for the goal....yes, I hope it changes.

[Merlyn]

This post is interesting as it validates what I heard recently at my school.

We had to listen to some speeches while different organizations (FNA, HANA, etc), came to talk to us about joining them and the common theme among what was mostly said was that we do not support each other. If we could all support each other we can be strong and make changes in healthcare that will benefit the way we practice (I am graduating this month) and be safe while doing it. NPs are being stopped in legislation to do more because of the strong group hold that doctors have that do not let them, but also because we are not united.

I am hoping this will change by the time I become a nurse, at my age (late forties) I plan to defenitely purse my BSN and maybe my MSN because more knowledge will make me better to attend to my patient, but I encourage young people in my class to go for the goal....yes, I hope it changes.

I hope that you will always hold to your goal but why stop at MSN ? Go for the PHD. Knowledge is power. Also the letters after you name is power too. The thing that I fear is the day to day work as a nurse will leave you too exhausted to pursue your dreams. I hope not. I wish you all of the luck in the world