OB GYN Nurse Practitioner vs. OB GYN Doctor

[as1540]

Hello,

I had a few questions concerning OB GYN Nurse Practitioners and OB GYN doctors. If you are able to answer a few of them, if not all, I would greatly appreciate it!

1. What are some of the differences in responsibilities between the two careers of OB GYN Nurse Practitioner and Dr.? What are some reasons someone would choose to pursue one over the other?

2. When searching for a bachelor's degree in nursing, how do I know whether the school in question is accredited by a good institution? What are some examples of good accreditation qualifications?

3. Is it possible to get a bachelor's degree in ultrasound and then pursue medical school to become an OB GYN Dr.? What are some other ways someone might become an OB GYN doctor?

Thanks in advance for your time and sharing of knowledge. :)

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

As far as the BSN goes, check for NLNAC and/or CCNE accreditation, regional accreditation, and state BON approval for prelicensure programs. That's about the only part of your post I can answer.

[danceluver]

From what i know:

If your ultimate goal is to become a doctor, just go straight through--take the prereqs, mcats, and apply. There is not need to get certification in ultrasound or pursuing nursing if your ultimate goal is to become a ob/gyn. You will learn everything in school and residency that you will need to know.

pros and cons: becoming an ob/gyn is much longer and more in depth in both training and education. There is no limitations in the field of ob/gyn if you become a doc. Therefore the responsibilities are much greater as well (malpractice, etc). As an NP you can do ultrasound, lots of gyn work,fertility, ob (no deliveries unless cnm).

It really depends on what you want in your career (satisfaction, career goals, responsibilities, model of care, etc).

hope it helps!

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

nurses who achieve doctoral degrees in nursing are also properly called "doctor." if you are referring to people with md or do degrees, the proper term is "physician." both medicine and nursing are independent/interdependent professions with scientifically-based practices and autonomy. neither is superior to the other; neither is responsible to the other.

for my money, what you need to know is less about schooling and more about yourself. what model of caring for people resonates with you-- the medical model, which assesses, diagnoses, and treats disease? or the nursing model, which assesses, diagnoses, and treats human responses to illness or injury?

in my experience, ob/gyn physicians come in two basic flavors, those who hate women and want to control what they can about them, and those who love women and listen to their patients. the latter are more likely to play nice in the sandbox with certified nurse midwives and nurse practitioners; those are more likely to use the nursing model for care.

if you are interested in gynecology, think about how you see women and their physical health needs.

if you are interested in obstetrics, think about how you see pregnancy and birth.

in either case, do you see yourself managing women's health, or working with women about their health?

as i said, you need to know more about what you are and then you can figure out what you want to be. cnm or anp or md/do-- all different.

if you want to follow the nursing model, you will go to college for four years for a bachelor's degree in nursing, then go to a graduate program (master's/doctoral-- doctoral will be required for nurse practitioners starting in the next year or two) for 2-6 years, and pass a national examination.

if you follow the medical model, you'll go to college for four years, go to medical school for four years, then 4 more years of residency, and pass a national examination.

but that time will go by regardless of what you do, so the question remains, what do you want to do?