I'm a bit confused about the whole 2015 DNP requirement for APRNs. Does this mean a DNP, instead an MSN, is required in order to become a Nurse Practitioner starting 2015? Is this applied uniformly in all States or do States have their own "flexibility" on how this is handle? (I live in MA.)
If DNP is required, I wonder if MSN programs will be phased out and replaced by dnp programs or maybe integrated into the DNP programs. In a clinical setting, will the scope of practice expand for someone with a DNP vs someone with an MSN? Or are they moving to DNP because they believe that MSN programs are already very much a doctoral program relative to other health professions?
Nursing is not doing 'it' at all. Nursing has always been its own discipline. And there have long since been doctoral decrees within the nursing discipline. The DNP is one such doctoral degree, but it is still a nursing degree. This degree that they are proposing at LMU is not a doctorate in physician assistant studies but a Doctor of Medical Science which appears to be a whole different animal.
Specializes in GI/GU surg,Pacu, ct surg, home care, NH.
I find it odd to fix the roof without taking care of the foundation.
They still cant even make the entry to practice as a RN a BSN degree, we still have diploma & associates degree nurses. But now they want to make the DNP a requirement. Ultimately they need to make the educational requirements standardized across the board from the RN and then work their way up to NP.
And I wont even get into the MSN/NP programs that allow students straight from BSN without any RN work experience.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I find it odd to fix the roof without taking care of the foundation.
They still cant even make the entry to practice as a RN a BSN degree, we still have diploma & associates degree nurses.
In my opinion one of the best things about nursing, the thing that sets us apart from physical therapy, physicians, pharmacy, and the other health care fields is our diversity.
I think that having people from a wide variety of backgrounds entering nursing makes us different. People come to nursing with various life experiences and social economic backgrounds and this makes makes nursing special and stronger. I believe this diversity is exactly why nurses are so good at relating to our patients.
I would hate to see nursing become like the other health care fields and be made up almost exclusively of bright young people from upper middle income families who enter college right after high school and practice right after that. We certainly need those kinds of people too, but I prefer that they be only one type of person who comes to nursing, rather than the vast majority.
Having a variety of paths to entry facilitates this diversity and is something to be desired and encouraged.
Goldenfox
303 Posts
Nursing is not doing 'it' at all. Nursing has always been its own discipline. And there have long since been doctoral decrees within the nursing discipline. The DNP is one such doctoral degree, but it is still a nursing degree. This degree that they are proposing at LMU is not a doctorate in physician assistant studies but a Doctor of Medical Science which appears to be a whole different animal.