First, DNP's aren't playing "doctor"--they are doctors.
The so-called "Doctoral" program offered to DNP's is not medical. Which of the following classes make a DNP an acceptably educated alternative to an MD?:
From the University of Arizona's Online DNP Program
NURS 630 Statistics for Health Sciences (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 631 Advanced Statistics for Health Sciences (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 642 Health Policy and Economics (3 credits)
<-- that'll help save lives :roll eyes:
NURS 644 Molecular & Clinical Genetics / Genomics (3 credits)
<-- minimally useful
NURS 646 Health Care Information Systems (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 650 Theories of Leadership & Organizational Management (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 652 Methods for Scholarly Inquiry (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 695a The Science and Practice of Nursing (1 credit)
<-- crap
NURS 705 Philosophy of Nursing Science (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 706 Theory Development and Evaluation (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 738 Translational Research (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 752 Evaluation Methodologies for Safety & Quality Improvement (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 753 Emerging Diseases and Population Health (3 credits)
<-- crap
NURS 922 Practice Inquiry (9 credits)
<-- not sure what this is
Second, are you saying that physicians don't refer out when its always needed? If so, check your local cemetery--its filled with people with which physicians have either missed an obvious diagnosis or failed to refer out when needed. As NP's we are trained to always error [sic] on the side of safety--not profits. This means, when in doubt, send to a specialty DNP, or if there are none available, then a specialist physician can be used.
Of course physicians refer out, just not needlessly. The point is needless referals due to inadequate education/understanding is costly! And, if you are making the ridiculously silly implication that MD's would put more people in the cemetery because they are money-grubbing a-holes detached from humanity, well... that just proves how far removed you are from reality.