If you see an NP or a PA, is 'doctor' the correct title to give them? They're not full fledged doctors but what else would you call them?
A masters level NP can go on to get a doctorate in NP. I'd call them "doctor".
Not sure about PA's.
NP's have to go into a specific field, are often well versed in that field. As such, I tend to put them ahead of PA's, but it depends on the individual.
DF
The problem is that it is confusing to the customer are you seeing a NP who has a doctoral degree in Nursing or an MD who has a degree in medicine, 2 horses of different colors. Like the difference in seeing a psychologist and a psychiatrist. A psychologist had a degree in psychology, a psychiatrist has a degree in psychiatric medicine (MD).
I think to some extent the title of "doctor" is tied to ego. I have heard some NPs saying they can't wait to hang a shingle calling themselves "doctor", it is not the same thing. These same NPs seem to believe that they are better than doctors (MD) without the same degree of education. The education pathway is very different.
With NPs as well as PAs much is left to the individual. Some continue to research and expand their understanding of the field and some just think they know it all on graduation never get any better. But I have heard many more NPs say that "this is the way I was taught and this is the way I will ALWAYS do this than I have heard PAs say the same thing. I will say that many NPs are far more willing to actually listen to patient than PAs and MDs. I think that the the board exam idea of PAs is far better than the NP certification. PAs like physicians have to retake boards every 6 years to remain certified. NPs take a one time certification exam and only require a certain number of education "hours" of credit every 3 years to maintain certification. While there are no education requirements per se for PAs the board exams reflect changes in practice over time so PAs have to keep up to continue passing the exam.
