Is There a Doctor in the House? No, Just a Nurse!

The medical profession is held in high regard, because of the propensity and ability of doctors to save lives, cure illnesses and generally make right whatever’s wrong with your body. In fact, some people elevate doctors to the pedestal occupied by a higher power when they seemingly perform miracle cures or bring back patients who were on the brink of death. Aspiring doctors go through a long and arduous path filled with a nerve-wracking five years of med school and a sleepless year of internship before they can reach their goal of being able to practice medicine independently. Nurses, who are trained to care for patients and augment the treatment proffered by doctors, can “provide fully accountable patient care across all settings” through the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree available at the Columbia University’s School of Nursing.

Open to nurse practitioners who have completed a master’s degree, this two-year course involves one year of internship and prepares nurses to be able to treat independently the most complex patients in any type of care setting. Graduates of the DNP degree are now being allowed to take a voluntary certification exam conducted by the National Board of Medical Examiners that will add to their credibility.

Even as some doctors welcome this move as allowing them to assign more responsibility to “Doctor Nurses” as they’re colloquially called, others are voicing opposition to allowing nurses to practice on par with medical doctors. The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians are emphatic in their stand that nurses, in spite of advancement in their field, should be allowed to be a part of the healthcare team only under physician supervision. They cite the vast difference between the training undergone by medical doctors and advanced nurses – the former are more specialized and train for a higher number of hours during their internship.

The DNP degree is in direct contrast to this view – it is the highest degree that nurse clinicians can earn and allows them to “practice fully accountable care independently across all settings”. The key words here are fully-accountable and independently, terms that are normally associated with the less glorious side of practicing medicine.

As long as they can be held responsible for their actions, nurses should be allowed to care for patients as primary care physicians. There’s no question of “out of scope” practice here. DNP graduates are not allowed to call or pass themselves off as doctors, but will patients be comfortable seeking a diagnosis from someone they consider just a nurse, no matter how high his/her qualifications?

No matter how advanced education becomes, no matter how knowledgeable a person becomes, there’ll always be a certain set of people that refuses to accept that a nurse can be qualified enough to treat patients like a doctor, just like there will always exist people who stereotype women as nurses and men as doctors.

By-line:

This guest post is written by Heather Johnson, who frequently writes on American InterContinental University. She welcomes your comments and freelance writing inquiries at: heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

// Thanks for the article, Heather.

//Luke

New developements in walking

I was searching cnn.com to find a health story to share (Because kt says i should). And i see and article that says walking is a healthy activity. HMMMM i thought, is this really new news? so being the curious george that i am i looked at it and found some exciting information about a low excitement activity. From what i read walking can lower your body fat that contains estrogen, which leads to breast cancer, so in turn walking reduces breast cancer, which is great news. if you you consciously relax, improve the alignment of your body, and involve arm movements, puts less stress on the legs while you walk ( known as Chi (CH-EE) walking). than you can actually reduce body aches and pains. hooray walking.walking also increases your mental activity (the article says i guess) so it says that in the elderly you can help fight alzheimer's which is fantastic, walking-3 sitting on the couch-0. Plus there are all those previously known beneFITs (fit pun intended) that walking has. Stronger bones, keeps you slim, releases endorphins in your brain, and its good for your heart.

Riley Brown-Admissions

Pregancy Pact

At Gloucester High School in Mass. it is believed that seventeen high school girls made a pact to become pregnant and raise their children together. This is just craziness to me! It is believed that the girls having the babies do not have a lot of direction or purpose in their lives. It is also believed that their babies fulfills two functions for the teens -- one is that they have the love of a male, well they believe they have the love of a male. I am not saying that is all they have, but they believe they have it. Then, the baby gives them a sense of status and purpose which they wouldn't necessarily have in another way. To me this does not make any sense, they must not be thinking or not know how difficult raising children is.

I was a nanny last summer and let me tell you I do not know how parents do it... lets just say it took me along time to want to have my own kids someday after that summer. ha ha

I just hope all works out for these teenagers!

you can see the whole story at: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/education/16682329/detail.html

Happy N Healthy

Riley, all i gotta say is...as the bigger person I will not fight back haha ;) although I know for a fact that many appreciated my flip flop cake blog! Anyways...because we are focused on healthy things, since we are a college of health sciences after all, this blog has some interesting tips for those of us out there that wouldn't mind losing a little weight in a easier fashion....we all know that cardio is the way to go when we are after losing a few pounds...but sometimes we really don't want to spend that much time on a treadmill or running endless miles! (am I right?)

so, I have learned many different options, but one that really interests me is intervals, and how they can actually be more beneficial!! Less time and better results? who would say no!! mix sprints with jogging for only 20 minutes, can help you lose 3x the fat than those who jog steadily for 40 minutes. They say the intervals spark the fat-mobilizing hormones while making cardio capacity better, therefore easier next time you hop on! if we do the same boring workout everyday you may not notice anything changing, well sometimes it is due to not overtaxing and making other muscles work, if we use the same muscles everyday the body and adjust and basically plateaus at that point thus not helping with further weight loss...

I could really go on forever about more scientific stuff, but just remember you still have to eat right, just going to the gym everyday does not subtract from eating poorly! i know lecture lecture...but really this is some pretty interesting stuff!!

~Kt :)

6/19/08

Wow, jenna and kt have been busy on their blogs. except sandal cake is weird and I do not approve. I'm pretty sure Friday the 13th is unlucky because zombies come out of the ground and feist on the minds of retired congressmen, what do you have to say about that kt??? The fact that gas is cheaper just shows that the free trade excange of north america isn't working were i need it to work. I drive a ford explorer and wouldnt mind paying 3 dollars a gallon but four??? boo that. Which brings me to the fathers day blog, and my wekks topic. This year for fathers day my brothers dad and I are going paintballing. It's something none of us have done, the only experience i have with paint balls is getting hit by one and haveing a shin sized bruise on my shin. I am very scared that i will get hit in the face somewhere that the mask doesnt cover. thats just my luck. But on a happier note my brother and sister-in-law are having a baby boy!!!! they are undecided on a name but i am thinking Gunner. awesome. they already have a 20 month year old little girl named Lucy who i love! she is adorable and awesome! So anyone that reads this tell me your thoughts on gunner, because i think it rules.

Riley B- Admissions

Drivers run to the border!

Drivers from San Diego who are experience pain at the pump are heading across the border for gas. In San Diego retails average price for a gallon of gas is $4.61. And a few miles south, in Tijuana, it's about $2.54 a gallon— even less if you pay in pesos.

According to msnbc.com; the lower prices mean a U.S. motorist could save almost $54 filling up a two-year-old Ford F150 pickup with a 26-gallon fuel tank in Mexico. The differential in diesel is even greater, selling at $5.04 a gallon in San Diego County and $2.20 in Tijuana.

I guess the answer to saving the pain at the pump is heading to MEXICO! or we could stay for a vaction?

To see the whole article visit, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25175249/.

*Jenna*

Father's Day History

I was just thinking about father's day and the good time I had this past weekend, with my family celebrating father's day. I was interested to where it originated from and found some history. I was amazed to see it has only been permanent since 1972. AMAZING

Sonora Dodd, of Washington, first had the idea of a "father's day." She thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.
Sonora wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state.
After Sonora became an adult she realized the selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.
President Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Then in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day. President Richard Nixon signed the law which finally made it permanent in 1972.

~Jenna