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A little over a century and a half ago, a bunch of people came together and established the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree. Over the years, DO's have slowly fought to gain practicing rights throughout the United States and in modern times, have gained parity with MD's (read wiki for the history)
Nowadays, many universites are offering the DNP degree. Although some states prevent NP's from calling themselves doctors, there have been many cases where DNPs introduce themselves as doctors (simply because they have a Doctorate in nursing). Many states do not ban nurses from introducing themselves as "doctors." NP's have been fighting and succeeding to gain independent practicing rights in all the different states (much as the DO's had done) and like the DO's who operated their own DO residency programs, there are new DNP residencies poping up throughout the nation (some funded by the Affordable Care Act).
So what do you guys think? Will America in 50+ years experience a trifecta of healthcare professionals (MD, DO, DNP?) Note: I do not believe physician assistants will gain parity with physicains simply as their name suggests and the current lack of a terminal doctoral degree for PA's.
Medical schools don't want to face the same problems law schools face, yet if they do not open more medical schools to combat the aggressive crusade by NPs for autonomy, there will be a problem for allopathic physicians in the future.
EDIT: Found this to be a good comparison for the annoyance of NPs
"Would a lawyer be mad/threatened if there was a 12 month course to give a paralegal all the rights/privileges of a lawyer? Would a nurse be mad/threatened if there was a 6-month degree that allowed EMTs or MAs practice nursing? What if those "degrees" in many cases were offered online?
Of course they would be mad. Is that surprising? Why should physicians not be the same?"
Nowadays, many universites are offering the DNP degree. Although some states prevent NP's from calling themselves doctors, there have been many cases where DNPs introduce themselves as doctors (simply because they have a Doctorate in nursing). Many states do not ban nurses from introducing themselves as "doctors." NP's have been fighting and succeeding to gain independent practicing rights in all the different states (much as the DO's had done) and like the DO's who operated their own DO residency programs, there are new DNP residencies poping up throughout the nation (some funded by the Affordable Care Act).
So what do you guys think? Will America in 50+ years experience a trifecta of healthcare professionals (MD, DO, DNP?) Note: I do not believe physician assistants will gain parity with physicains simply as their name suggests and the current lack of a terminal doctoral degree for PA's.
Medical schools don't want to face the same problems law schools face, yet if they do not open more medical schools to combat the aggressive crusade by NPs for autonomy, there will be a problem for allopathic physicians in the future.
EDIT: Found this to be a good comparison for the annoyance of NPs
"Would a lawyer be mad/threatened if there was a 12 month course to give a paralegal all the rights/privileges of a lawyer? Would a nurse be mad/threatened if there was a 6-month degree that allowed EMTs or MAs practice nursing? What if those "degrees" in many cases were offered online?
Of course they would be mad. Is that surprising? Why should physicians not be the same?"
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