Dont call it a doctorate. Call it something else. If the nursing field wants to add educational requirements that's great, but dont insult people who do real PhD work, or who slaved in medschool and residency for 8+ years to become a MD. you may not care about a title, but we do because that title represents something special....independence. it is a crazy mixed up world we live in when a bedside nurse can become a doctor and practice medicine independently without going to medschool while getting all their training through nursing channels.
who designs your requirements, who designs the training, who designs the exams. nurses do. this was all fine when CRNAs had to work with a physician, but now nurses are re-writing the rules and standards, and the general public is truly not aware. hopefully they will be soon.
although many other professions may have professional doctorates there is a huge difference in what the nursing community is doing. psychologists have always been able to practice as psychologist independently, now some want prescription rights, and to get that they up their education, maybe add a professional doctorate to their accolades. In addition, a profession needs doctorates when novel research needs to be done. what kind of novel research needs to be done in bedside nursing? come on, man. there is no huge research void in nursing that suddenly exists now to justify nursing PhDs.
nurses are using their masters/doctorate to redefine what they do, and it resembles exactly what another field is doing (ie MDs). Advanced nurses are trying to gain the same amount of independence without going to medschool. i have no problem with a nurse wanting to better themselves, but if an MD has to go to medschool and residency so should that nurse who wants to practice independently. no need to make up a totally new degree and field; we have one already that is tried and true and well excepted by the public. physicians set the standard of training and care through out the world.
that is why PAs and AAs is such a good idea. they are founded on dependence. they know their role and limitations. if a PA/AA wants to practice independently they go to medschool like i did. if i had something to do with it i would of never allowed CRNAs and NPs to exist. they are bastardizing what it means to be a nurse, which is a crime because bedside nurses are great and sorely needed. i would of said if you dont want to do nursing anymore fine...go practice medicine as a PA/AA. if you want to practice independently go to medschool. simple. And look at the clever titling of the names. physician "assistant", anesthesiology "assistant". eventhough CRNAs/NPs were originally to be solely dependent midlevel practioners they never put the word "assistant" in their name and this has publicly made it easier to advance their cause. i say this not because i truly have a problem with the CRNA role, its because in retrospect the public and medical community should of never let this snake out of the bag.in summary...titles do matter. they should.
