STATE OF NURSING TODAY
Is A Nurse Practitioner A “Doctor?”
Nurse practitioners are demanding a wider scope of practice and even to be called “doctor” if they have a doctorate. And 28 states are considering giving them what they want, to which physician societies object.
But it’s not just the dependent practitioners breathing down primary care’s neck. CVS announced it will double its number of retail clinics and expand the range of services from acute, episodic care to screening and even chronic illnesses. Walgreen’s and Wal-Mart are increasing their numbers of clinics, too.
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“Nursing schools are turning away tens of thousands of qualified applicants; 1/2 of nursing-school faculty members will reach retirement age; U.S. is on the verge of losing some 500,000 nurses to retirement.” Source: Read More>>>>
The Future Of Nursing Is Here Health Experts Say
Nurse Practitioners May Be The Thing Of The Future
Salary Statistics
Median Salary $96,093
Low 10% $82,775 to 25% $89,122 to 75% $103,438 to High 90% $110,125
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the growth within this profession should be in line with that of other similar nursing fields. This forecast predicts job growth of around 23% through the year 2016, which presents outstanding opportunity.
Get the complete story on how to be a Nurse Practitioner
With tools like this GE’s ultrasound device, Vscan practitioners may obtain better outcomes.
Nurses for the Future
Linda H. Aiken, Ph.D., R.N.
December 15, 2010 (10.1056/NEJMp1011639)
On October 5, 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a report in which it recommended that the proportion of nurses in the United States who hold at least a bachelor’s degree be increased from its current level of 50% to 80% by 2020.1 The education of nurses may seem to be a less pressing matter than providing access to care for millions of uninsured Americans and making care affordable, effective, and safe for all. Yet if we don’t alter the historical patterns of nursing education, the country’s nursing resources will be crippled for the foreseeable future — with repercussions for all those patient-focused goals.
Nursing schools are turning away tens of thousands of qualified applicants because of budget constraints and a worsening faculty shortage. Within the next 10 years, half of nursing-school faculty members will reach retirement age; the anticipated attrition represents a crisis in the making, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the replenishment of the nurse workforce, which is itself on the verge of losing some 500,000 nurses to retirement.
The number of new graduates from nurse-practitioner programs has remained flat, at about 8000 per year, despite rapidly escalating demand. The 80-hour workweek for resident physicians was made possible by teaching hospitals’ hiring of thousands of advanced-practice registered nurses (APRNs). More than 3 million American families annually have received care at some 1100 new retail clinics staffed primarily by APRNs. APRNs have facilitated the largest expansion of community health centers since the 1960s, with 7354 sites throughout the country now providing care for more than 16 million people. Nurse anesthetists administer an estimated 30 million anesthetics to patients each year. Moreover, a number of health care reform initiatives are predicated on APRNs’ filling a range of new roles in primary care, prevention, and care coordination.
Why has the graduation rate of APRNs stalled when there are so many good employment opportunities for nurses, and why is there a looming shortage of nursing faculty? The answer is simple, although the solution may not be: to qualify for faculty or APRN positions, most nurses have to return to school after obtaining their basic education and licensure to acquire two or more additional academic degrees — a prospect that is simply not feasible for most practicing nurses.
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This article (10.1056/NEJMp1011639) was published on December 15, 2010, at NEJM.org.
Mary Brenkinridge, Founder
Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing
About Frontier
FSMFN provides advanced educational preparation for nurses who seek to become nurse-midwives (CNM), family nurse practitioners (FNP), or women’s health care nurse practitioners (WHCNP) by providing a community-based distance graduate program leading to a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) a post-master’s certificate or a Doctor of Nursing Practice. The FSMFN seeks to meet the needs of prospective nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners who do not want to leave their home communities to obtain the graduate education they desire to fulfill their professional aspirations. Didactic coursework is delivered using web-based, distance education courses allowing students to achieve their higher education goals without leaving home for classes. Using clinics, hospitals, and preceptors in their own community allows students to get the hands-on clinical experience required for these exciting health care professions. Two on-campus sessions are required, including an orientation prior to beginning studies, and intensive skill workshops prior to beginning the clinical practicum.
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Nurse Practitioners are Nurses and not MD’s. It is well known fact that getting into Medical School requires intelligence and is probably one of the hardest fields in the world, whereas anyone with average brains can get into Nursing school. Secondly, a resident who works 80hrs/week x 3 years will always be more qualified than a nurse practitioner.
You need to have brains to get into an NP program. Just because a pathway is longer (which if you pursue your doctor in nursing practice, it takes the same amount of time as being a doctor) doesnt make it better. So get your facts straight before you start posting.
It is impossible to determine if NPs provide similar care to MDs as there are litteraly millions of variables. Who knows what goes undiagnosed and which treatments are suboptimal? Much of the time, the effects of mistreatments or misdiagnoses will appear many years laters and how can a study possibly take into account a million variables? Just because patients are satisfied doesnt mean much from a medical prospective as they do not know the pathyphysiology of disease process, they can only judge from interactions, which are personality dependent.
Many NPs are Doctor’s wanna be without having the drive and/or intelligence to go to rigorous training of going to medical school.
False. Doctors and Nurses have different philosophies of care. It has nothing to do with “NP’s not having the brains.”
How can you compare the rigorous training of medical school where medicine becomes your religion and then followed by rigours of residency (80hrs/week x 3years) under qualified GPs and specialisits to an NP with couple of years on top of nursing school? This is absurd.
I know many NPs have an inferiority complex and they try to defend it by saying “NPs can diagnose and prescribe….” The reality is that your still a nurse and not a doctor.
NPs role is very important in health care, however when NPs start to say that they are nurse doctor, it does not make any sense what so ever.
If a nurse has a Doctor in Nursing Practice. Technically they are a doctor. Not a medical doctor, but a doctor.
I think some of you guys are being rediculous. Just because a person decides to train as an NP than a doctor doesnt mean that they are “less than” or “not as good” or “dont live medicine” like a doctor does. Truth is a lot of doctors dont “live and breathe medicine” they want to make a buck. I know a few handful of doctors that actually care about their patients. Nurses also teach wellness and diagnostic model which is something that should be more included into our medical system. Doctors are only taught to be “diagnosticians” thats it. So please learn the facts between a doctor and a nurse before you start saying that nurses are “not as good” as doctors.