Nurse Practitioner Degree Mills And Corinthian Colleges–An Educational Failure
Those who follow me on Twitter have read the pinned tweet about the value of education on my profile page:
“This message could not be more on point. Devaluation of education should never, ever be acceptable. Because there would no longer be pursuit of excellence, only pursuit of mediocrity.”
I’ve been speaking publicly on the value of education for 30+ years. It offends me when its importance is diminished, either by words or actions. MedTwitter has been buzzing once again with the topic of scope creep by nurse practitioners(NPs). I view this particular issue of scope creep as one which minimizes medical education and the clinical practice of medicine by suggesting that it is something that any health care practitioner can do if they work in health care long enough. Wrong. Professional boundaries are intentionally blurred to downplay the significance of medical education and achieve an agenda that is dubious. It is imperative one remember that unsupervised practice for NPs has been successful by legislation, not education. Why not by education? Two reasons. One, because nursing is not medicine and two, NP education is below par. One huge red flag that nurse practitioner(NP) education is deteriorating is the rapid proliferation of predatory online and brick-and-mortar NP degree mills. However, profit-driven degree mills are not new to the educational landscape.
Some may recall the days when Heald, Everest, Wyo-Tech and many other profit-driven trade and business schools were all the rage. These schools were collectively represented under the auspices of Corinthian Colleges(CCi) and targeted primarily women(mostly single mothers), Black and Hispanic/Latinx students and individuals with incomes at or below the poverty level. Subsequently, CCi closed down in 2015 after suffering multiple investigations and lawsuits from various state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education(USDE), for engaging in illegal and predatory practices. In 2018, a federal judge ordered the USDE to cease collecting on loans associated with CCi. Betsy DeVos, then U.S. Secretary of Education, ignored the order and was subsequently held in contempt of court in 2019. Many of those loans have now been canceled. For example, on 6/26/20, a federal judge ordered CCi to forgive all loans for its students in Massachusetts. https://predatorystudentlending.org/news/press-releases/judge-orders-secretary-devos-to-completely-cancel-student-loans-of-all-7200-defrauded-corinthian-colleges-students-in-ma-press-release/. The legal process is state dependent and some loans remain to be forgiven. Litigation was ongoing in other states due to resistance by the USDE under the Trump administration. However, the new Secretary of the USDE, Miguel Cardona, appears to be following through with and honoring the initial 2018 order by the federal judge. https://yubanet.com/california/students-begin-to-receive-loan-forgiveness-after-being-defrauded-by-corinthian-and-other-predatory-for-profit-colleges/
NP degree mills today are reminiscent of the avaricious behavior exhibited by CCi, except their target audience are nurses who seek alternate and less competitive pathways to becoming nurse practitioners who can play doctor. These degree mills must also go the way of Corinthian Colleges and ultimately be forced to shut down and pay significant fines for their rapacious behavior. NPs who have been bamboozled should do exactly what the students of CCi(aka the Corinthian 100)did, go on a debt strike and refuse to pay their loans for services not rendered and breached agreements or file a class action lawsuit for violations of the False Claims Act. However, those NPs who continue to fund these mills despite the inferior schooling have decided that a substandard education is adequate for their purposes, something to which I alluded in the article, https://authenticmedicine.com/2021/03/a-non-virtuous-path/. When NPs willingly and knowingly make a choice to compromise their education, that choice is theirs to own–as are the consequences. In this scenario, they are not victims, they are opportunists. The name of the school is irrelevant if the activities in which it engages are exploitative. It is still a degree mill. That includes the Ivy League schools. You can put lipstick on a pig–it is still a pig.
Nurse practitioner education is on a path of self-destruction. Regression rather than progression. It is never wise to dummy down–always smarten up. It is imperative that potential NPs make better choices if they expect to raise their educational standards and regain the respect their profession once enjoyed.
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”–Samuel Johnson
I remain impressed that for all the bad-mouthing of American Obstetrics, the search for diversity in childbirthing, doulas and home-birthing, aromatherapy and immersion delivery, that 40% of the women in the WORLD deliver babies in hospitals. In the WORLD. Tibet. Cambodia. Siberia. Libya. The WORLD. For most, it involves a long journey when heavily pregnant, and without the immeasurable wealth that Americans have. Many of those who have babies outside of hospitals would eagerly deliver in hospitals if they had the means. Most of these hospitals are rudimentary facilities, at best, equivalent to distant rural American hospitals. They know it’s the best chance for a well mother and well baby.
We know that likely over 50% of the world understands the importance of healthcare. It’s a pity that those who do not have, understand; and those who have, do not understand.
I have no connection to the Republic of Ghana, but I watch them as a poor country which takes itself and its people seriously.
In 2015, the maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Ghana was 319 compared to 409.2 in 2008 and 549 in the year 1990.
With collaborative efforts from the Ghana Health Service, the current Ghanaian Government, and the various policy makers, Ghana has for the first time recorded its lowest maternal mortality rate in 2018 with 128 deaths per 100,000 live births as against 144 per the same number of deliveries in 2017.
the Ghana Drone Delivery Service in April 2019 to deliver vaccines, blood, plasma, and drugs to remote areas.
Ghana has a universal health care system, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), and until the establishment of the National Health Insurance Scheme, many people died because they did not have money to pay for their health care needs when they were taken ill.
This is a poor little country that’s giving its all to deliver the best healthcare it can. It’s a 21’st century country in a 21’st century world. Why can’t we model their healthcare culture?
Probably a good place to send an ob resident to. Kurt
I agree with the message but not the solution. The solution is to make these colleges responsible for their own student loans and not the taxpayer. It is time for the US taxpayer to stop guaranteeing loans for private schools. Private schools should be in charge of their own loans. Same with online schools. Only public physical schools should the taxpayer be involved. Then these private schools will have the necessity to make sure they have trained in responsible and money earning graduates. If someone else is responsible for the money there will be no stopping the online schools. They will continue as long as the money flows.