Please sign my petition to support my campaign to allow all nurses with doctorate degrees to use the title Doctor or Dr. This title should not be a protected title that belongs only to physicians, chiropractors, naturopaths, podiatrists, and pharmacists. Nurses have also earned doctoral degrees that should give them the right to use the doctor title.
A campaign to change the law that protects the title Dr. or Doctor to apply only to physicians, chiropractors, pharmacists, naturopaths, dentists, podiatrists, and optometrists. All of these professions are allowed to use the title Dr. in a clinical setting with a caveat that states what they are; for example Dr. Jones, chiropractor. Nurses should be legally allowed to do this as well. Dr. Jones, Nurse Practitioner. Many in the medical profession believe that having Nurse Practitioners or Nurses use the title Dr. in the clinical setting would be confusing to patients. If it is confusing for nurses to call themselves Dr. in the clinical setting then it would be equally confusing to have chiropractors, pharmacists, naturopaths, dentists, and podiatrists call themselves Dr. in the clinical setting. This is not a rational reason why nurses cannot use the title that they legally earned at a University....and then it is taken away by the legislation.
Please sign my petition and/or contribute to my GoFundMe campaign
https://GoFundMe.com/NursesAreDoctorsToo
See link to the right for signing my petition
Dr. Donna Alden-Bugden,NP,DNP
Updates
December 27, 2016
im honestly blown away by how much this has taken off and seeing everyone get behind this is just incredible. its wild to see how many people agree that those who earned their doctorate should be able to use the title they worked so hard for.
18 Comments
It is interesting to note that when I attained my PhD my patients chose to use the title doctor even after I explained to them why I couldn't use the title. The nephrologists I worked with also felt the same. They said it is an earned title, it actually means "teacher", and is more challenging to acquire than an MD. It is time to move into the new century!
It is discriminatory that NPs who have doctorates are unable to use the designation in clinical practice. A possible confusion between medical doctors and nurse practitioners with PhDs or clinical doctorates can easily be addressed with EG N.P. After their name
The title doctor should not be reserved for male dominated positions only. If you earn it you should definitely use it.
This petition should not be necessary! Refer to yourself as Doctor ------Nurse Practitioner . Why is this difficult to understand ?
There are very valid reasons, that Nurse Practitioners should be called Dr. by profession.
The public understands that optometrists, chiropractors, naturopaths, psychologists, practitioners of Chinese medicine, and dentists are not physicians. So why do the regulators think that the public wouldn't understand that NPs with a doctoral degree are also not physicians, but are entitled to use Dr. because of their academic qualifications. An audiologist in Ontario has taken this issue to court in June 2016 http://www.cbc.ca/ontariotoday/2016/06/28/who-gets-to-call-themselves-doctor/ From an anthropological/societal perspective, it's interesting that in the UK and parts of Europe, the 'doctors' were university educated physicians who mainly worked in universities; whereas the barber surgeons were addressed as Mr. The title of doctor was seen as more prestigious and was adopted by physician societies in North America. When I finished my PhD, my British trained MD said, "Now you're the real Doctor".
I applaud your efforts !!!! I am working on my PhD now and I think the Dr. title is the way to go .
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Please sign my petition to support my campaign to allow all nurses with doctorate degrees to use the title Doctor or Dr. This title should not be a protected title that belongs only to physicians, chiropractors, naturopaths, podiatrists, and pharmacists. Nurses have also earned doctoral degrees that should give them the right to use the doctor title.
A campaign to change the law that protects the title Dr. or Doctor to apply only to physicians, chiropractors, pharmacists, naturopaths, dentists, podiatrists, and optometrists. All of these professions are allowed to use the title Dr. in a clinical setting with a caveat that states what they are; for example Dr. Jones, chiropractor. Nurses should be legally allowed to do this as well. Dr. Jones, Nurse Practitioner. Many in the medical profession believe that having Nurse Practitioners or Nurses use the title Dr. in the clinical setting would be confusing to patients. If it is confusing for nurses to call themselves Dr. in the clinical setting then it would be equally confusing to have chiropractors, pharmacists, naturopaths, dentists, and podiatrists call themselves Dr. in the clinical setting. This is not a rational reason why nurses cannot use the title that they legally earned at a University....and then it is taken away by the legislation.
Please sign my petition and/or contribute to my GoFundMe campaign
https://GoFundMe.com/NursesAreDoctorsToo
See link to the right for signing my petition
Dr. Donna Alden-Bugden,NP,DNP
Updates
December 27, 2016
im honestly blown away by how much this has taken off and seeing everyone get behind this is just incredible. its wild to see how many people agree that those who earned their doctorate should be able to use the title they worked so hard for.
18 Comments
DNP, NP are allowed to use the title Dr. in our neigbhour country. We canadians should honor the efforts of our nurses as well who earned this prestigious title with extreme hard work.
It is interesting to note that when I attained my PhD my patients chose to use the title doctor even after I explained to them why I couldn't use the title. The nephrologists I worked with also felt the same. They said it is an earned title, it actually means "teacher", and is more challenging to acquire than an MD. It is time to move into the new century!
It is discriminatory that NPs who have doctorates are unable to use the designation in clinical practice. A possible confusion between medical doctors and nurse practitioners with PhDs or clinical doctorates can easily be addressed with EG N.P. After their name
The title doctor should not be reserved for male dominated positions only. If you earn it you should definitely use it.
This petition should not be necessary! Refer to yourself as Doctor ------Nurse Practitioner . Why is this difficult to understand ?
There are very valid reasons, that Nurse Practitioners should be called Dr. by profession.
The public understands that optometrists, chiropractors, naturopaths, psychologists, practitioners of Chinese medicine, and dentists are not physicians. So why do the regulators think that the public wouldn't understand that NPs with a doctoral degree are also not physicians, but are entitled to use Dr. because of their academic qualifications. An audiologist in Ontario has taken this issue to court in June 2016 http://www.cbc.ca/ontariotoday/2016/06/28/who-gets-to-call-themselves-doctor/ From an anthropological/societal perspective, it's interesting that in the UK and parts of Europe, the 'doctors' were university educated physicians who mainly worked in universities; whereas the barber surgeons were addressed as Mr. The title of doctor was seen as more prestigious and was adopted by physician societies in North America. When I finished my PhD, my British trained MD said, "Now you're the real Doctor".
I applaud your efforts !!!! I am working on my PhD now and I think the Dr. title is the way to go .
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DNP, NP are allowed to use the title Dr. in our neigbhour country. We canadians should honor the efforts of our nurses as well who earned this prestigious title with extreme hard work.