To the Editors:

I have just read your editorial, “Doctor of Nursing Practice—MRI or Total Body Scan” (July 2005: 278–281). I find the views presented very relevant to nursing education today. This debate over the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) should be stopped, and current issues in nursing education should be addressed, specifically the issue of “on-line nursing degrees.” I do not call this nursing education! On-line degrees have bred “diploma mills,” defined by Webster’s dictionary as: “An institution of higher education operating without supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are either fraudulent or because of the lack of proper standards worthless.” How can one obtain a degree in nursing without doing clinicals with “real patients” and having meaningful face-to-face discussion with professors and colleagues?

Let us as professional nurses officially recognize the BSN as the entry level for a professional nurse. Let the MSN...

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