Doctoral degree to become an NP???

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The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is calling for the requirement of doctorate in nursing for advanced practice nurses, such as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists, and nurse anesthetists. This new degree will be called a Doctor of Nursing Practice and, if the AACN has its way, will become the entry level for advanced nursing practice.

AACN Position Statement on the Practice Doctorate in Nursing

I am currently a nurse practitioner, with ten years' experience in clinical practice. I shutter to think that I must return to school to obtain a doctorate just to do what I now do and have done for ten years. Does that make sense to anyone?

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is calling for the requirement of doctorate in nursing for advanced practice nurses, such as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists, and nurse anesthetists. This new degree will be called a Doctor of Nursing Practice and, if the AACN has its way, will become the entry level for advanced nursing practice.

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/News.../DNPRelease.htm

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Specializes in Pre-hospital, & E.D..

In my area there is already a difficulty finding MSNs & PhDs to teach the ASN & BSN programs... Who the heck are "they" going to have as faculty for these dnp programs????

There is a saying... "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

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Specializes in Anesthesia, CVICU.

Nursprac, read the comment posted before your comment by gauge14iv:

They arent going to change it for those who are already there. MS level NP's will be grandfathered in and right now its more of a wish (on the part of certain parties) than a requirement.

In addition, if you want the DNP later you can go through Case Westerns bridge program and do the DNP in about 30 hours.

The quote you posted says the entry level for NP would be...a doctorate. I believe since you have practiced for 10 yrs you are Not an entry level NP. The goal is 2015 for this proposed requirement it is still 2006.

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I'm happy I'll be grandfathered in, but what about all those NP's who only have an Associates or Bachelors degree (there are lots of them still practicing). Will they be grandfathered in?

Also, I'm GLAD they are planning on requiring a doctorate because I'm sick and tired of being compared to a P.A. and being referred to as a "mid-level." We're not "mid" anything...we are a separate entity as far as I'm concerned. I have a friend who is a NP with a doctorate degree and the doc she works with loves it because patients don't feel like they are getting "jipped" when they pay the doctor rate.

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Nursprac, read the comment posted before your comment by gauge14iv:

They arent going to change it for those who are already there. MS level NP's will be grandfathered in and right now its more of a wish (on the part of certain parties) than a requirement.

In addition, if you want the DNP later you can go through Case Westerns bridge program and do the DNP in about 30 hours.

The quote you posted says the entry level for NP would be...a doctorate. I believe since you have practiced for 10 yrs you are Not an entry level NP. The goal is 2015 for this proposed requirement it is still 2006.

What will happen to all the NP's who have an associates or bachelors degree? They have 20 years + experience...it's gonna be hard for them to go back to school!

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What will happen to all the NP's who have an associates or bachelors degree? They have 20 years + experience...it's gonna be hard for them to go back to school!

They will all be grandfathered in, if your a NP they will not take your ability to practice away. The same idea was suggested when the masters became the standard educational process for the NP.

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Specializes in Cardiac nursing.

That's correct the the Doctorate in Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) is now being offered so that APNs have the option of advancing their career for a doctorate degree which is geared more so for clinical nursing. The D.N.P can take about 2-3 years or so depending on the SON's program. But before applying to a DNP program, you must have a MSN. APNs will not be grandfathered into a DNP. The DNP is another educational pathway to prepare APN to practice clinically at the "doctorate" level, utilizing up to date research on disease/illness management, health promo, etc... There is a prospective growth of programs that will be offering the DNP. To find out more info google AACN (American Assoc. of Colleges of Nursing) and from there (AACN website) there will be a national list of current schools offering the DNP program. Good luck!

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

Current APN's will be grandfathered if some state or certifying body decides to require the DNP for licensure or certification - just as non MS degree holding APN's are presently.

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That's correct the the Doctorate in Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) is now being offered so that APNs have the option of advancing their career for a doctorate degree which is geared more so for clinical nursing. The D.N.P can take about 2-3 years or so depending on the SON's program. But before applying to a DNP program, you must have a MSN. APNs will not be grandfathered into a DNP. The DNP is another educational pathway to prepare APN to practice clinically at the "doctorate" level, utilizing up to date research on disease/illness management, health promo, etc... There is a prospective growth of programs that will be offering the DNP. To find out more info google AACN (American Assoc. of Colleges of Nursing) and from there (AACN website) there will be a national list of current schools offering the DNP program. Good luck!

There are dnp programs for the BSN, not all DNP programs will require a masters. In fact, the majority of DNP programs will not require a masters degree for entry. The DNP is projected to be the entry degree for the FNP by 2015.

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Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Psych.
Has anyone else heard the following?:

Columbia School of Nursing will introduce a four-year "doctor of nursing practice" doctoral program that teaches much broader skills, such as evaluating clinical studies and setting up independent practices. As they gain these new skills, nurse practitioners are branching out beyond primary care to fill a growing need for personnel in many areas of medicine, including specialties such as long-term care providers for the elderly.

I think this is an absurd idea for nurse practitioners. A 4 year doctoral degree to become a nurse practitioner? This will actually be a REQUIREMENT to become an NP by the year 2015 if certain nursing interest groups get their way. WHY is there such a big push for this if nurse practitioners really aren't planning on competing with physicians like the special interest groups claim? The degree will teach NP's how to set up INDEPENDENT PRACTICES...how is this not competing with physicians? NP's having a doctoral degree may want to be referred to as "Doctor"...how is this not competing with physicians? I think this requirement may very well hurt the profession as a whole by doing the following: Decreasing the number of NP applicants, creating friction between physicians and NP's due to title use and physicians viewing NP's as competition, and create more role confusion for the public regarding nursing and the concept of the nurse practitioner.

Let's look at this idea folks. One goes to school for his or her BSN (Typically 4 to 5 years). Then one goes to school 4 more years for the Doctorate of Nursing Practice Degree. That's 8 to 9 years. Then he or she gets a position starting at $60,000 - $70,000 a year, if he or she is lucky (I have met NP's starting out as new gaduates making $54,000/year). No residency will be required like traditional medical school, but you can bet the universities offering such a program will charge you quite a pretty penny for the doctoral degree. (Just look at schools offering the PharmD, the DPT, the Aud.D, etc. These programs ARE EXPENSIVE, costly, and time consuming.) Then, to make things more fun, NP's will have to go against the grain of the medical profession (the AMA, including specialty groups of MD's and DO's) to fight for priveleges to practice independently in states unaccepting of the NP as an independent provider. Then there will be fights about getting empaneled by insurance companies for direct reimbursement for services provided. This will not be a smooth transition...this will be a war! The AMA is a powerful entity, both politically and socially.

Now don't get me wrong. I WANT to become an NP. But I want to get mine in 30 months as opposed to 4 years. I DO NOT want to be a doctor. I do NOT want to be called "doctor". I especially do not want to be a "doctor nurse". If I wanted to spend all that time in school, like the new degree proposes, I would GO to medical school. This way I would get a well respected MEDICAL DEGREE in the same amount of time, complete my residency, and then start out making $130,000/year (on average) instead of $60 - 70,000 a year. Oh, and I wouldn't have to worry about "physician collaboration", independent practice restrictions, being reimbursed by insurance companies, prescriptive privileges, or public confusion about my role in the healthcare system. And don't fool yourselves, many other intelligent people will see things my way too, which will lead to LESS NP's, which is a BAD thing for the profession.

Nursing isn't ready for this idea right now. There are too many other issues nursing needs to worry about first. What do you think about this issue?

AMEN, brotha!

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OK- so I've read through these posts and came away with the understanding that if you get your MSN prior to the legislation stating that you need a DNP to be a Nurse Practitioner, you would be grandfathered in. Now - I went to an information session last night for an Accelerated BSN program and the director was talking about this same issue and said the complete opposite and now I'm confused. She said that if you have a MSN prior to the legislation going through, in order to practice as a nurse practitioner, the MSN's will have to get their DNP. And this is a nurse practitioner herself and the director of the school of nursing - is she correct or is she just trying to sell the DNP program (as they will be starting one in a few years)?

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

She is incorrect. Read the ANA white paper on the matter - it spells it out in detail. Perhaps she needs a copy. :)

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