2015 DNP Requirement for APNs

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Specializes in Medicine.

Hey everyone,

Is it true that all NPs and other APNs will have to finish off their DNP in order to achieve NP status after 2015? I'm currently applying for FNP school and I'm getting worried about this. I may or may not finish school before 2015 and I don't want to spend an extra 2 years for something I don't want at all. Can anyone give me some insight on this situation? Will I be grandfathered in if I start school before 2015 or will I have to finish before that. Thanks in advance.

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It's not a requirement; it's a proposal by the AACN and some of the other academic nursing organizations. The only professional group that has embraced the idea so far is the CRNA group, and their target date is 2025, not 2015 (and it remains to be seen whether that will actually happen). I'm not aware of any state that is saying it plans to change the requirements for licensure. However, enough schools are changing their programs from MSNs to DNPs that it is becoming a moot point in some parts of the country.

Even if it's not a requirement, no one really has any idea what will happen as the DNP becomes a more common educational preparation for new grads, or what, exactly, will happen to all of us MSN-prepared advanced practice nurses if it does become mandatory at some point in the future.

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Specializes in Medicine.

Sad day for sure if this does go through. I need to get my ass back in school ASAP.

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There are only three ways for the DNP to become mandatory:

1. All programs stop offering MSN NP programs

2. All states require the DNP for practice

3. The accrediting bodies require the DNP for licensing.

Of the three the first and third are most likely, but none have happened yet or are scheduled to happen in 2015.

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Specializes in ICU, transport, CRNA.

As several others have pointed out the answer is no. The exception is for CRNAs need to have a doctorate (not necessarily a DNP since so many CRNA programs can't grant nursing degrees) by 2025. Personaly I have doubts that it will ocme to pass even for CRNAs. Many of the CRNA programs are based in schools that currently don't grant any doctorate degrees. A lot of programs will have to shut down and new programs started at universities that can grant doctorates.

In my opinion it's abserd. There is no evidence at all that advanced practice nurses prepared at the masters level are not providing high qualiety care. The masters programs are already full of irrelevent fluff as it is. My program certainly was.

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Specializes in Medicine.

Hmm at what point can you be grandfathered in if it does go through? As long as the program starts before 2015 or you must have been licensed before 2015? It's 2013 now and I'm just applying to school this year. So if I'm lucky I may be able to start this fall and should finish just by the end of 2015.

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Specializes in Medicine.

So I guess this university is pushing for DNP. This is really scaring me... I DO NOT want to spend an extra 2 years in school with added tuition. This is really disheartening.

Fairfield University School of Nursing Frequently Asked Questions for the M.S. in Science, Family Nurse Practitioner Track

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From my understanding, the schools transitioning to DNP are not adding two years to the program. I think that is the part-time length for those going from MSN-DNP.

Personally, I think this is wasteful. I understand it more for CRNA's as they have a very large earning potential, but unless this DNP is coming with a large-scale pay raise, many won't be able to justify the cost of education in comparison to earnings.

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Specializes in PICU.
So I guess this university is pushing for DNP. This is really scaring me... I DO NOT want to spend an extra 2 years in school with added tuition. This is really disheartening.

Fairfield University School of Nursing Frequently Asked Questions for the M.S. in Science, Family Nurse Practitioner Track

This is seriously my biggest pet peeve- people who keep insisting that you have to have a DNP by 2015. Now I understand a bit more why some people think this is the case, this school even says it on their website!! ugh. Go with a different school that actually is up to date.

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This is seriously my biggest pet peeve- people who keep insisting that you have to have a DNP by 2015. Now I understand a bit more why some people think this is the case, this school even says it on their website!! ugh. Go with a different school that actually is up to date.

Me, too. There have been a number of students who have posted here that they know this is true because one of their instructors at school told them it was a done deal. I always wonder, when I see those posts, whether a) the student misunderstood what the instructor was saying, b) the instructor is really that uninformed, or c) the instructor is pursuing some particular agenda.

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I think we see now how the DNP will become a requirement, by schools who want 2 more years of tuition.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Totally agree with you all - the DNP is just in its infancy at the moment.

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