What is the difference between a nurse with a PHD and a Medical Doctor?

Whats the difference if a nurse rises through the ranks to get her B.S, then Masters, then her PHD in pediatric nursing rather then start going the eleven year route to become a practicing pediatrican? Can they do pretty much the same thing? Can that nurse with a Phd have her own practice? Will she have access to medicine to buy for her patients? How does it work?

For Florida

Actually a nurse with their master's degree as a nurse practitioner can see their own patients, do physical exams, and in most states prescribe medications. The nurse acts as a completely independent practitioner. A nurse practitioner with their master's degree does very similar work to what a physician's assistant does, but a physician's assistant is overseen by a physician and a nurse practitioner is completely independent.

I don't think so. My father has a PHd as well as his medical degree. Medical school is what grants those 'oppurtunities' and there is no way in hell that a nurse can start up her own practice or prescribe medicine (but I think that she can prescribe medication if she's an RN).

The major difference is that for a PhD, once just needs to go to graduate school. For an MD, one must go to medical school. They are two very different institutions and two very different degrees. MDs also must complete a residency as well before they can practice, then sometimes must also go through specialization as well before they can really practice. All of this is done in the field though, not classroom settings. I'm not exactly sure what a nurse with a PhD can do, but I don't think it's as much as an MD.

A nurse is a nurse, whatever goes up or down; a physician is a medical doctor.A nurse is trained for nursing care, a physician for diagnosis and treatment of the diseases. A nurse can get a PhD, a doctor gets an MD. Even a Ph D nurse does not treat the patients independently but a general practitioner does. Usually PhD nurses do some academic or nursing management works.