I think you guys are freaking out because they dare to put the word doctor in their title. I don't think even with that word few - if any - DNP feels that they are a medical doctor. They are in a different, equally valuable field (regardless of the huge compensation difference). Doctor is not a sacred word. Shoot, my sister in law is a doctor of history. I don't think she plans on operating any time soon. How to address patients has already been covered earlier in this thread I believe (I could be getting them mixed up). When I am with a patient, I introduce myself as "Hi there, I am Sally, A Nurse Practitioner, how are you?" and when/if I get my PhD (which I am seriously considering) I will introduce myself as "Hi there, I am dr. Sally, a Nurse Practitioner".
Doctor is not a sacred word, but in a medical context it has a specific meaning. Without getting into the equivalence of a DNP vs. MD/DO, it is difficult to say what the goal is here. If a NP with a PhD wants to use Dr. in a nursing setting then go right ahead. To use it in a medical setting invites confusion.
It is not difficult to google scholarly articles and find many, many studies about NP care. Not a one that I found is negative. However, they are all studying NPs working in collaboration with a physician. And that is what I support (and do myself). Semi independence.
There are a few poorly done studies that look at independent practice. The majority however, look at collaborative or supervised practice and try to pass it off as independent practice. Once again if you want to claim independence (which is what the ANA wants) you need to be able to back it up.
Patient satisfaction is HUGE. For many reasons, some of them relating to health. The most basic would be that whether you like it or not (or admit it or not) medicine is a business and customer satisfaction in any business is paramount.
Yes medicine is a business but patient satisfaction is not the only outcome. If NP's let diabetics eat whatever they want and the physicians harangue them to eat appropriate diets and monitor their sugars who will have the best patient satisfaction? Who will have the better patient outcomes? They are not and should not be considered equal.
And finally, a non-residency trained physician is not comparable to an NP. I would indeed expect poorer outcomes from them on all levels.
Answer uncertain. There are some good non-residency trained physicians out there. But if you look at some of the data coming out of the state BME's and insurance data there appears to be more claims and discipline problems. I think that more BME's will require a residency before issuing a license. My point there actually was a lot of studies that NP's use to show equivalence look at residents vs. NP's. Not really a proper comparison.
At any rate, whatever you or I think does not really matter. All you have to do is look in the real world and see what is happening to realize what the future of medicine is going to look like. I for one feel it has many positive implications. the old school could definitely use a bit of an overhaul...
