More and more, I am seeing posts from people who want to leap straight from taking the NCLEX into an advanced practice role. (Often you see plans of "pre-nursing" students already plotting their CRNA careers, but that's another story.)
Also, an increasing number of schools are designing programs that greatly reduce or eliminate the need/chance for actual nursing experience before acceptance.
It's almost as if the advanced practice role is becoming ever more distant from its origins, i.e. hands on nursing.
On top of that, with questionable programs opening up (which often results in weak practitioners), is it possible that nursing as a whole gets a black eye by association?
Bottom line: is it time for a divorce? Should advanced practice nurses be retitled and called something along the lines of physician's assistants?
