Is an NP a physician?

Following on the last post... The Happy Hospitalist takes up this question, as it was posed at allnurses.com. Health care needs to get its terms straight. Patients can't have everybody under the sun going around calling themselves everything under the sun. Sure, NPs can provide some primary care, but doctorate-level NPs calling themselves "Dr. Nina Practica" isn't doing anybody any good, except it's stroking the ego of the NP.