Nurse Practitioners should not be allowed without at least 10 yrs of experience
No offense to nurses at all, because nurses are absolutely essential and deserve respect. But I genuinely think Nurse Practitioners should require at least 10+ years of real bedside experience in the SAME field before being allowed to practice independently.
A lot of people are literally finishing nursing school and immediately planning to go become an NP. Some are even doing major parts of their education online. Meanwhile hospitals are giving these people insane levels of freedom to diagnose, prescribe medication, and give medical advice with little to no supervision depending on the state.
And yes, nursing IS medical, but nursing has traditionally been centered more around patient care, monitoring, support, and bedside treatment. Doctors go through years and years of clinical-focused training specifically centered around diagnosing, pathology, treatment plans, and complex medical decision-making. Those are two different things.
So why should someone with 3–5 years of nursing experience suddenly be allowed to operate almost independently giving patients medical advice? Especially when physicians go through residency, fellowships, brutal clinical hours, and constant supervision before they’re trusted alone?
If you want that level of responsibility, either:
Go become a doctor
or
Require a MINIMUM of 10+ years experience before independent NP practice.
And before people get mad….yes, there are AMAZING NPs. Some of the best providers I’ve met were NPs. But almost every great NP I’ve encountered had 10–20 years of experience first. You can feel the difference immediately. They’re knowledgeable because they’ve actually seen things. They’ve worked the floor. They’ve dealt with patients for years.
But hearing brand new nurses say:
“Yeah I’m going to nursing school and then immediately becoming an NP. I can do the work online but my clinical are in person. It’s not bad. ”
is honestly terrifying.