Moderator

NP training should:

1.  Have high standards for admission.  RN experience, objective test of academic ability such as the GRE, and  proven science background beyond "science light" coursework.  

2.  Consist of challenging course work that is clinical in nature.  Nursing fluff at the graduate level should be minimized.  All programs should be standardized for minimum standards and scrutinized with online programs especially so due to the ease with which they can operate with minimal student/instructor accountability.

3.  Vet and monitor practicum sites and ensure hands on, high quality training.  Observing in an irrelevant clinical setting should not be allowed.  

4.  Make board certification difficult.  Limit the number of times boards can be failed.

5.  Be willing to hold the above standards even if it means fewer programs, fewer graduates, and fewer NPs.  

6.  Be held accountable by CCNE.

7.  Include reform of the DNP.  

The consensus model is our profession's method for rationalizing poor training.  Limiting NPs to a population and setting serves neither the NP nor the patients.  We should  be trained for general practice.  

Warring with physicians over who is best able to care for patients is a losing proposition.  We should argue for legitimacy of our own profession, hold ourselves accountable by refusing to accept a lower standard, and take the high road.  We do not need to co-opt the title "doctor", deceive the public into thinking we are the same as a physician, or denigrate physicians, to make our own profession stand as worthy.