AANP Responds to Latest Bloomberg News Story
Bloomberg News has once again published an article that selectively uses information and omits relevant facts provided to it by AANP. This includes it latest article titled “Desperate Nursing Students Turn to Fixers for Their Clinical Training.”
Although provided to Bloomberg by AANP, the reporters omitted any mention of a newly implemented rule by the Department of Education (DOE) that went into effect in July 2024. The rule requires institutions of higher education to provide students with clinical or externship opportunities when related to and required for completion of the credential or licensure in a recognized occupation. This applies to programs across all professions where hands-on experiences are licensure prerequisites. As stated to Bloomberg, AANP supports students who are pursuing their academic goals and DOE’s continued efforts to ensure that all requirements are met by educational institutions across the country.
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) has consistently emphasized the importance of rigorous standards in nurse practitioner (NP) education, as outlined in our publicly available position statement. It’s important to note that NPs typically complete at least six years of formal nursing education, pass national board certification prior to getting licensed and complete continuing education to retain board certification throughout their career. NPs enter their graduate degree programs as registered nurses having already completed formal undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing programs, which include clinical rotations. During graduate school, NPs complete academic coursework and additional clinical rotations that prepare them to independently diagnose, manage patient care and prescribe medications and other treatments. All NP programs are nationally accredited and held accountable to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), with accreditation standards requiring supervised patient care clinical rotations.
Unfortunately, Bloomberg has continued to exclude relevant details from their reporting including more than 50 studies that definitively demonstrate that NPs in the United States provide high-quality primary, acute and specialty health care services across a variety of diverse settings in nearly one billion patient visits annually.
Bloomberg’s pattern of selective reporting undermines public trust in journalism. For more information, you can review AANP’s response to the first and second articles in this series.
AANP President Stephen A. Ferrara, DNP.