NP..How do pts adress you?

[blackvans1234]

Hello all NP's, just wondering how you ask your patients to adress you, is it a first name basis?

Can they call you Doctor? (I'm assuming no, but who knows)

Thanks!

[froggg123]

I introduce myself as...Hi I am Jane Doe your nurse practitioner, most usually take it on their own and call me Jane, some will always say Dr. regardless of how you address yourself, once I finish my doctorate I will say I am Dr. Doe your nurse practitioner, but frankly as long as my pay check is written correctly I don't care what anyone calls me

[nursetim, NP]

"Hello, how are you today? My name is Tim. I'm a nurse practitioner and I work with Dr. Dewy, cheatum, and Howe.

I still get addressed as Dr. and I correct them and try to drive home the point once.

[HumptyDumpty]

NP's should never introduce themselves as Dr.'s in the clinical setting, even if they have a DNP. I just say, "Hey, I am Mike a nurse practitioner. What brought you in today?" Most of the time they don't even give it a second look. If your competent and confident, patients don't give a rats ass what you are. Hell, most of the docs I work with introduce themselves by their first name.

[Lovanurse]

I have a DNP but I say "Hi, I'm Lovanurse and I'm a nurse practitioner" I may address myself as Dr. Lovanurse in the future, who knows? But for now, it just feels right for patients to address me by my first name. Now when patients say..."I thought I was seeing a doctor?". I say..."I have a doctorate in nursing, would you like to reschedule with a physician?" I think it's important to educate patients that physicians aren't the only "doctors"

[coast2coast]

I introduce myself as a nurse practitioner ... My MAs introduce me as la enfermera ... And my patients all call me 'doctora.'

[nomadcrna, DNP, CRNA, NP]

I introduce myself as Dr. xxx, a nurse practitioner. Many times it opens up an educational opportunity to discuss NPs with the patient. We also have a large sign posted in the waiting room that tells what a nurse practitioner is.

Public education is extremely important in our battles that are going on right now. There is a war going on as we speak for our practice rights.

What about optometrists, podiatrists and dentists. None of them have MD or DO yet are called Dr. in the clinical setting.

Why does it seem that nurses always feel the need to minimize our accomplishments? Lets stop being our own worst enemy and give our profession the respect it deserves.

The below is from OUR (NP) organizations. They all support the title of Dr.

So whether you agree or not, maybe we should think about supporting our profession.

http://www.go9host.com/aanp-qa/images/documents/publications/UseofTerms.pdf

American Academy of Nurse Practitioners

American College of Nurse Practitioners

Association of Faculties of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health

National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

National Conference of Gerontological Nurse Practitioners

National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties

NURSE PRACTITIONER DNP EDUCATION,

CERTIFICATION AND TITLING: A UNIFIED STATEMENT

DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice)

1. Nurse practitioner education prepares graduates to provide safe, high quality, cost-effective,

coordinated, and comprehensive clinical care grounded in evidence-based practice. Strategies of care

include advocacy for individuals and groups, decision making related to personal health, mobilization

of resources, therapeutics (pharmacologic/nonpharmacologic), health education and counseling,

coordination of services, and evaluation of treatment outcomes.

2. Nurse practitioner education builds on the strong disciplinary foundations of the sciences, as well as

the art and science of nursing, which includes health promotion, disease prevention and the diagnosis

and management of acute and chronic illness.

3. Nurse practitioners use knowledge across disciplines to determine the current best evidence to

provide quality primary and specialty care services to clients.

4. Current master’s and higher degree nurse practitioner programs prepare fully accountable clinicians

to provide care to well individuals, patients with undifferentiated symptoms, and those with acute,

complex chronic and/or critical illnesses. The DNP degree more accurately reflects current clinical

competencies and includes preparation for the changing health care system. It is congruent with the

intense rigorous education for nurse practitioners. This evolution is comparable to the clinical doctoral

preparation for other health care professions.

5. While all health care professions draw on shared knowledge and learning opportunities, nurse

practitioners have a distinct body of knowledge and unique competencies.

Certification

1. Certification is a method by which professional knowledge and skills are evaluated through rigorous

and psychometrically sound examination processes.

2

2. Certification examinations for nurse practitioners are based upon sound scientific principles of

advanced nursing practice and knowledge. These examinations are developed from the discipline of

nursing and do not draw from another discipline’s examination or examination mechanism.

3. Accredited, psychometrically sound nurse practitioner certification examinations are currently used

to evaluate competency within a specified population focus.

4. Psychometrically sound examinations are based on role delineation studies conducted on a regular

basis to determine the test blueprint for a given professional discipline.

5. Through the utilization of appropriate psychometric processes, current certification examinations

will evolve with changes in the nurse practitioner body of knowledge and practice.

6. PhD, DNSc, DNP, MSN are credentials that represent academic degrees earned by individuals when

they successfully complete the requisite course of study. An academic degree is not a role.

Certification examinations test the competencies of the role and not the degree. It is not appropriate to

attempt to validate an academic degree with a certification examination. Any certification

examination at the degree level would be too broad to determine the knowledge and skills that are

applicable to the roles or specialties associated with the roles

7. The seamless transition from the masters to doctoral preparation for nurse practitioner practice does

not require additional testing beyond nurse practitioner certification to measure competency to

practice.

Utilization of the Title “Doctor” by Nurse Practitioners

1. The title “Doctor” represents an academic credential, and is not limited to professional programs.

Graduate educational programs in colleges and universities in the United States confer academic

degrees, which permit graduates to be called “doctor”. No one discipline owns the title “doctor”.

2. In the health care field, the term doctor is not limited to medical doctors. Other health care

professions use their academic title: e.g. Doctor of Osteopathy, Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of

Podiatry, Doctor of Psychology, Doctor of Physical Therapy and others.

3. While the titles “Medical Doctor” or “Doctor of Osteopathy” may be title protected by statute in a

given state, the term “doctor” alone is not.

4. Recognition of the title, “Doctor”, for doctorally prepared nurse practitioners facilitates parity within

the health care system.

© June 18, 2008 Nurse Practitioner Roundtable

This document may be reproduced freely in its entirety with attribution.

Preferred citation format is: Nurse Practitioner Roundtable (June, 2008). Nurse Practitioner

[nomadcrna, DNP, CRNA, NP]

NP's should never introduce themselves as Dr.'s in the clinical setting, even if they have a DNP. I just say, "Hey, I am Mike a nurse practitioner. What brought you in today?" Most of the time they don't even give it a second look. If your competent and confident, patients don't give a rats ass what you are. Hell, most of the docs I work with introduce themselves by their first name.

I'm curious but just a couple of days ago you posted this. If you finished your program, congrats.

Just curious if anyone out there has done a few specialty hours in like the ED or ortho and just didn't count it towards their clinical hours? FNP programs obviously won't let you get your hours in the ED, but whats the harm in doing it on your own time? - See more at: https://allnurses.com/student-nurse-practitioner/has-anyone-went-818590.html#post7203256

Just curious if anyone out there has done a few specialty hours in like the ED or ortho and just didn't count it towards their clinical hours? FNP programs obviously won't let you get your hours in the ED, but whats the harm in doing it on your own time?

Thanks, thats what I was curious about. I have spent some days in the ER, and the PA I am following is treating it as a "shadowing" experience. He lets me evaluate, do a quick H&P, and tell him what I think needs to be done. But I don't do anything that would cause any type of malpractice. E.G. Participate in codes, procedures, etc...

[nomadcrna, DNP, CRNA, NP]

Per our (NP) professional organizations. It seems that they ALL support the use of Dr. in the clinical setting.

I've found that by introducing yourself as Dr. xxx, a nurse practitioner, it opens the door for education about NPs. It is a great opportunity.

Plus is is much more professional than Hey there, I'm Joe.

http://www.afpnp.org/DNPUnifiedStatement0608.pdf

American Academy of Nurse Practitioners

American College of Nurse Practitioners

Association of Faculties of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health

National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

National Conference of Gerontological Nurse Practitioners

National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties

NURSE PRACTITIONER DNP EDUCATION,

CERTIFICATION AND TITLING: A UNIFIED STATEMENT

DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice)

1. Nurse practitioner education prepares graduates to provide safe, high quality, cost-effective,

coordinated, and comprehensive clinical care grounded in evidence-based practice. Strategies of care

include advocacy for individuals and groups, decision making related to personal health, mobilization

of resources, therapeutics (pharmacologic/nonpharmacologic), health education and counseling,

coordination of services, and evaluation of treatment outcomes.

2. Nurse practitioner education builds on the strong disciplinary foundations of the sciences, as well as

the art and science of nursing, which includes health promotion, disease prevention and the diagnosis

and management of acute and chronic illness.

3. Nurse practitioners use knowledge across disciplines to determine the current best evidence to

provide quality primary and specialty care services to clients.

4. Current master’s and higher degree nurse practitioner programs prepare fully accountable clinicians

to provide care to well individuals, patients with undifferentiated symptoms, and those with acute,

complex chronic and/or critical illnesses. The DNP degree more accurately reflects current clinical

competencies and includes preparation for the changing health care system. It is congruent with the

intense rigorous education for nurse practitioners. This evolution is comparable to the clinical doctoral

preparation for other health care professions.

5. While all health care professions draw on shared knowledge and learning opportunities, nurse

practitioners have a distinct body of knowledge and unique competencies.

Certification

1. Certification is a method by which professional knowledge and skills are evaluated through rigorous

and psychometrically sound examination processes.

2

2. Certification examinations for nurse practitioners are based upon sound scientific principles of

advanced nursing practice and knowledge. These examinations are developed from the discipline of

nursing and do not draw from another discipline’s examination or examination mechanism.

3. Accredited, psychometrically sound nurse practitioner certification examinations are currently used

to evaluate competency within a specified population focus.

4. Psychometrically sound examinations are based on role delineation studies conducted on a regular

basis to determine the test blueprint for a given professional discipline.

5. Through the utilization of appropriate psychometric processes, current certification examinations

will evolve with changes in the nurse practitioner body of knowledge and practice.

6. PhD, DNSc, DNP, MSN are credentials that represent academic degrees earned by individuals when

they successfully complete the requisite course of study. An academic degree is not a role.

Certification examinations test the competencies of the role and not the degree. It is not appropriate to

attempt to validate an academic degree with a certification examination. Any certification

examination at the degree level would be too broad to determine the knowledge and skills that are

applicable to the roles or specialties associated with the roles

7. The seamless transition from the masters to doctoral preparation for nurse practitioner practice does

not require additional testing beyond nurse practitioner certification to measure competency to

practice.

Utilization of the Title “Doctor” by Nurse Practitioners

1. The title “Doctor” represents an academic credential, and is not limited to professional programs.

Graduate educational programs in colleges and universities in the United States confer academic

degrees, which permit graduates to be called “doctor”. No one discipline owns the title “doctor”.

2. In the health care field, the term doctor is not limited to medical doctors. Other health care

professions use their academic title: e.g. Doctor of Osteopathy, Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of

Podiatry, Doctor of Psychology, Doctor of Physical Therapy and others.

3. While the titles “Medical Doctor” or “Doctor of Osteopathy” may be title protected by statute in a

given state, the term “doctor” alone is not.

4. Recognition of the title, “Doctor”, for doctorally prepared nurse practitioners facilitates parity within

the health care system.

© June 18, 2008 Nurse Practitioner Roundtable

This document may be reproduced freely in its entirety with attribution.

Preferred citation format is: Nurse Practitioner Roundtable (June, 2008). Nurse Practitioner

[forthebirds]

I introduce myself as a nurse practitioner ... My MAs introduce me as la enfermera ... And my patients all call me 'doctora.'

I learned a new Spanish word today . Thanks!