Clarification on the DNP requirement of 2015

[umbdude]

Hi-

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?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

umbdude

[synaptic]

I read the description pretty thoroughly, they try to play it off as an attempt to save the government money. Discussing the cost of medical residency to our government blah blah. Essentially, if you look at the curriculum, it seems to attempt to replace a one year PA residency in a specialty of their choice. One would most likely be better of simply working a year in that specialty, actually getting PAID, OR find a REAL residency to acquire knowledge while getting paid/benefits.

It cost 54000 to do this degree. that is STEEP. Unless i was provided IMMEDIATE independent practice, I would not think twice about getting this degree.

They discuss the requirement of three years experience... most likely to make it SOUND more selective.

It is also disgusting that they describe it as "nobody else offers this for PAs."

Like your doing them a favor charging them 54k to read lectures from medical specialists that one could find for free/cheaper on Youtube or journals.

Wake up people, colleges try to play off offering programs as a benefit to students while breaking the loan shaft of in your you know what.

Do not fall for this petty garbage.

[Goldenfox]

Nursing is doing it.... Why shouldn't they?

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.

[bklynbaby]

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.

Just my two cents

[PMFB-RN, RN]

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.

My two cents worth.