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

seems like we as a profession couldn't decide if BSN should be entry level so instead concentrating on that issue we add something on the other end..its crazy.. and the BSN argument has still not been answered..

Humm... I think the issues of entry-level BSN and entry-level DNP can't be compared.

Of courses, they are all nurses but the scopes of practice are different. NP can diagnose and treat, while RN can mostly assess. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Just because BSN argument has still not been answers doesn't meant that we can not consider DNP trend. RN is the subset of APRN. (scope of practice wise). I agree that DNP curriculum is immature but they can make it better.

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Humm... I think the issues of entry-level BSN and entry-level DNP can't be compared.

What the real issue is for me is that nursing just can't get it together at both ends. Just looking at the higher end, we've had a Ph.D. which seems to be the most solid. We've had the N.D. (Nursing doctorate) and the D.N.S (Doctorate of nursing science). Now we have the DNP. What next?

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Oops! I deleted my post as I was responding to a very old post and didn't realize it til later... this conversation is long enough already!

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This is my beef. I don't want to take classes that have no basis in what I would be doing in practice. This is not opinion, this is fact. The DNP offeres no more clinical hours or science classes. What the heck I am learning here? If I wanted to do research I would have gotten a PhD in Psych. When it is all said and done, I will have 8 years of education; 4 years BS in psych, 2 years MS in Marriage and Family Therapy, and 2 years AAS in nursing. I felt like college was mostly jumping through the hoops of fluff classes with a smidge of classes that actually applied to what the heck you were doing. I refuse to pay money to take courses at the master's and doctoral level in nursing which are not science based or more clinical hours. Has anyone looked at the curriculum for PA schools? Way more emphasis on clinical hours and science classes versus "basketweaving" type courses for nursing. PA here I come.

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Echoes many a statement that have been made.. Unfortunately I don't think too many in the ivory towers are listening.

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Has anyone noticed the requirements to get into PA school. At least two semesters of general chemistry, one semester of biochemistry, 2 additional bio courses in addition to Bio 101 and 102. Some require physics and/or calculus. DNP not so much outside of a BS in nursing which I have yet to see requiring even one semester of chemistry to get that degree.

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Has anyone noticed the requirements to get into PA school. At least two semesters of general chemistry, one semester of biochemistry, 2 additional bio courses in addition to Bio 101 and 102. Some require physics and/or calculus. DNP not so much outside of a BS in nursing which I have yet to see requiring even one semester of chemistry to get that degree.

Good point... Mostly right.. I checked out several area colleges and found you needed to do just a tad more research.

I myself found the regular biology and chemistry classes to be OK, I loved microbiology and parasitology. I found genetics, although intriguing, was not quite the route I wanted to go. I discovered psychology to have some very interesting professors :D. I must say I really was not fond of inorganic chemistry.... Psych stats was one of the hardest classes I ever took.

My early advisor's were great: Biology teaches you that it works but chemistry teaches you why it works recommend both so I took both.

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Good point... Mostly right.. I checked out several area colleges and found you needed to do just a tad more research.

I myself found the regular biology and chemistry classes to be OK, I loved microbiology and parasitology. I found genetics, although intriguing, was not quite the route I wanted to go. I discovered psychology to have some very interesting professors :D. I must say I really was not fond of inorganic chemistry.... Psych stats was one of the hardest classes I ever took.

My early advisor's were great: Biology teaches you that it works but chemistry teaches you why it works recommend both so I took both.

But back to "Doctoral degree to become an NP???":

MSN for NP but now will be have Doctoral for NP: The curriculum / clinical needs improvement still.

I wonder what it would take for "universal" improvements to happen?

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I was just telling someone today (fellow nurse who has an MSN in aducation/administration) to go ahead and apply to the MSN/ NP certificate program. I just graduated with my MSN/ARNP. However, when she called she discovered that University of Iowa, College of Nursing is no longer admitting NPs to a MSN program. Only doctorate will be allowed to exit with the NP certificate after next summers graduating class. The doctorate is a DNP. Here is more info:

http://www.nursing.uiowa.edu/academic_programs/graduate/dnp/index.htm

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Has anyone noticed the requirements to get into PA school. At least two semesters of general chemistry, one semester of biochemistry, 2 additional bio courses in addition to Bio 101 and 102. Some require physics and/or calculus. DNP not so much outside of a BS in nursing which I have yet to see requiring even one semester of chemistry to get that degree.

I had to have chemistry to get my BSN, and physics, and a year of anatomy and physiology. I think you are looking at the PA program and not the undergrad program.

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I had to have chemistry to get my BSN, and physics, and a year of anatomy and physiology. I think you are looking at the PA program and not the undergrad program.

It is typical for there to be a large list of requirements as prerequisites for PA school... 1 year of general chemistry, 1 semester of organic chemistry, 1 semester of microbiology, 1 year of anatomy/physiology, 1 year of biology, sometimes biochemistry, sometimes nutrition, sometimes genetics. All courses must be for science/pre-med majors.

At least at some of the major nursing programs in my area, BSN students have the option to take the premed version or the lower version of a lot of classes.

Also, some of the BSN-DNP programs I have been looking at only have 1,000 hours of clinical experience. Crazy!! PA school has more than double that!! Also, most of the old time reputable PA programs require at least 2 years experience with an average of 4-5 years of experience before entering, often as a medic or nurse.

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OK let's see... For the nurses and NPs out there:

- What do you think the potential is for increased diabetic and clinical hours: Sooner than later?

- Will there be any standardization of programs coming down the track anytime soon?

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