First off I think your misunderstanding what getting a DNP takes (obviously its much easier than doing MD/residency but its not like you take a 25 minute online class and your a NP).
Im basing this off of MUSC in SC which is probably a typical program.
First off you have to get a Bachelors in Nursing (which includes clinical teaching).
Then you have to practice a nurse for a couple years.
Then you can apply for the Online DNP program, which will take 3 years fulltime or 5 years part time.
During the program students do over 1,200 hours of clinical learning.
After completing that the NP is limited in scope of practice to less than a GP in even the most pro-NP states. (i think NP can't prescribe certain Rx's that a GP can).
And the second part of your post confirmed what I was saying, all you pre-meds up in arms about NP are just terrified that it might somehow hurt your salary/prestige one day so your trying to prevent them from infringing on the monopoly MD/DO once had on GP.
It just isnt economically efficient to have an MD with 8+ years training doing a physical exam on some kid so he can go to summer camp. It would be better for society to have someone who is less trained doing it for cheaper.
Everyone hates monopolies/cartels unless its the one you hope to belong to 😉
Economically efficient? And the people on SDN scare you? Its that kind of attitude that scares me.
1200, if its that much, is paltry compared to what physicians do (close to 20,000 hours). Plus you can go through nursing programs all the way through without ever having worked as a nurse. This is one reason why theres alot of nurses who quit, they go through all the schooling without any clinical experience and then are thrown out on the floor to work as if they already know everthing.
As for MUSC, I just went over to the website clicked college of nursing and the first line of text is this:
"GRE no longer required for admission to the MSN or DNP program!"
Going further here is the curriculum for the post masters DNP
Year 1, Fall Semester
NRDNP 826 Biostatistics: Clinical Applications 3 sh (3,0,0)*
NRDNP 846 Frameworks for Leadership & Interprofessional
Collaboration
3 sh (3,0,0)
NRDNP 850 Organizational Theory and Health Care Management 3 sh (3,0,0)
Year 1, Spring Semester
NRPHD 708 Advanced Health Policy and Advocacy 3 sh (3,0,0)
NRPHD 715 Introduction to Social and Applied Epidemiology 3 sh (3,0,0)
NRDNP 844 Research Use and Evidence-Based Practice 3 sh (3,0,0)
Year 1, Summer Semester
NRDNP 830 Applied Health Care Economics and Finance 3 sh (3,0,0)
NRDNP 836 Informatics in Health Care Delivery 3 sh (3,0,0)
NRDNP 852 Health Program Planning 3 sh (3,0,0)
Year 2, Fall Semester
NRPHD 804 Knowledge Dissemination and Translation 3 sh (3,0,0)
NRDNP 890 Residency 6 sh (0,0,6)
Year 2, Spring Semester
NRDNP 890 Residency 6 sh (0,0,6)
Minimum DNP course work 42 sh (30,0,12)
Also this program is two years long, not 3-5 which you said, but you are allowed to take up to six years to complete it, however just because it takes you 6 years doesnt mean there is additional coursework or cinical hours you are doing. The minimum hours of clinical work is 1000, for the doctorate degree; I bet med students have more clinical hours than this. This is all from the school which you said is typical.
Most of these classes look like bureaucratic garbage.
Also you argument of a monopoly doesnt apply. Physicians are strictly controlled and regulated because its not a job anybody can do. People dont want some random guy off the street doing their surgery, they want highly trained people. If you dont like your doctor you can get another one. Dont' confuse regulation with domination.
And this is why SDN scares me.
(well atleast the pre-allo part, reading the psych board makes me feel better because alot of the psychiatrists over there would work for free as a hobby).
I know you need a certain base amount of money to provide for your family, but almost any job you get with a college degree will be enough to support a family (if both parents work). Or a single person making >100k is enough to support a family comfortably. (Obviously most of America/World gets by on way less than this but SNDers have high expectations)
Once you hit that base salary, most of your waking hours your going to spent at your job so job satisfaction would seem to be the most important consideration when considering a career.
Well that job satisfaction is getting severly hampered by mountians of paperwork, lawsuits and ever increasing debt. Skills of high value are those which are hard to attain. High valued skills come at a higher price. As long a reimbursements are adequate, people will put up with jumping through hoops of medicine. If you want to talk about economically efficiency, going through the training of becoming a doctor becomes economically inefficient as reimbursements go down. Applicants will seek other fields and then nurses can take over, without a problem. People say this will never happen but its already happening with primary care. slowly but surely.
