Quote:
Originally Posted by blueash
I have no thoughts about the care or the billing you experienced. I do wish to comment on the terms "Doctor" "PA" and "ARNP'
Firstly a PA is a physician assistant. This person did a 4 year college program in any field then a two year PA training program. So 2 years of medical training in total.
APRN is Advanced Practice Registered Nurse. This requires a master's degree in nursing. Most commonly the person got an undergrad degree in nursing but that is not required. The undergrad degree can be in any field but to get the master's degree will then require a few extra science courses. The master's degree is 2 years for most programs. There is also a requirement for clinical experience. Some fields are more intense such as nurse anesthetists.
Compare that training with MD training. Undergrad in any field then 4 years of medical school with about half those 4 years spent in hospital or clinical training. Then at least 3 years of intensive hospital and outpatient training before going into practice. Some fields require much more. Child psychiatry is a five year residency after 4 years of medical school. 9 years post college. That psychiatric NP who "does the same job" , 2 years and I believe 500 clinical hours which is 3 months.
And coming soon, many NP programs are changing the degree being awarded from a Master's degree to a doctorate. So these graduates will now have a doctorate in nursing, no additional work, just a different name for the degree. And when they get introduced to you as a Dr. Jones it will be true but the doctorate will not be in medicine. The time is near when you will need to ask directly whether your doctor is a medical doctor or some other doctorate. If you don't care, that is fine but I can tell you the amount of training difference between that received by an MD and a doctor of nursing is huge. YMMV
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Actually, A doctorate in nursing- once a ARNP; is approximately one-two more years including 1 year of clinical in your focus field. So, yes, less than a doctor-but not simply a doctorate degree in nursing for "no additional work" not "just a different name for the degree".