Masters NP phased out to DNP?

zmansc, ASN, RN · Jun 20, 2014

Search on the site and you will find a plethora of discussions on this subject.

PG2018 · Jun 23, 2014

It's just soap box preaching. If the national nursing bodies haven't standardized RN education why would they skip ahead and standardize NP education?

chare · Jun 23, 2014

Have you done any research on the DNP transition?

If so, what did you find?

EatYourVeggies · Jun 26, 2014

I am interested in pursuing PMHNP in a few years and out of the three programs that offer it by me two of them have changed their programs to DNP which is super irritating as I was interested in the HPSP the Army offers but at the moment they will only pay for the Master's degree and one has to attend full-time to finish it in two years. I wonder if they will potentially change this requirement since a lot of schools are changing their Master's NP programs to DNP programs. I don't mind pursuing more education but I would prefer if I could practice with a Master's degree and receive the DNP over time.

Adenium · Jun 26, 2014

My school attempted to switch from Master's to DNP only. It lasted one year - I think they saw such a sharp drop in enrollment that they became afraid their nice income stream would dry up.

One school in my area changed to DNP and has stayed that way. But yeah, I agree no one in the nursing leadership can get their *$ together so I doubt there will be consensus in the next couple decades.

zmansc, ASN, RN · Jun 27, 2014

I'm not sure I would say that there will not be consensus in the next couple of decades, 2015 is not even a pipe dream anymore from what I can tell.

Let's consider that in 2001 the University of Kentucky admitted the first class to the first DNP program and today there are several hundred such programs (https://apps.aacn.nche.edu/DNP/DNPProgramList.htm which seems to be out of date as it shows no programs in NM and I know there are at least two schools with them) with some estimates over one hundred additional programs in some stages of development.

There are several paths that nursing could take. If they continue to allow MSN trained NPs to sit for the boards, then it will be just like the entry level for RNs, which is mired in the ADN/BSN muck that it has been in for what, decades? This is a very real possibility with the current deadline being passed with little to no effort being made to create a real roadmap to the transition that has been proposed of the DNP for entry level into the profession.

However, if the NONPF and other organizations involved were to develop a roadmap whereby all MSN programs were to be phased out by say 2020 and sitting for the boards required a DNP by 2025 (as an example), then this would allow schools to transition their programs from MSN programs to DNP programs as well as students to have a clear understanding of the path that is going to change and when.

Note: I see merits of both sides, both changing the entry level degree to DNP and not changing it. I have not decided if this would be a GOOD change, just suggesting that there has been significant progress towards it already and I could see that progress continuing if the direction was made by the appropriate organizations. Only time will tell!

PG2018 · Jun 28, 2014

I am interested in pursuing PMHNP in a few years and out of the three programs that offer it by me two of them have changed their programs to DNP which is super irritating as I was interested in the HPSP the Army offers but at the moment they will only pay for the Master's degree and one has to attend full-time to finish it in two years. I wonder if they will potentially change this requirement since a lot of schools are changing their Master's NP programs to DNP programs. I don't mind pursuing more education but I would prefer if I could practice with a Master's degree and receive the DNP over time.

I'm in the last year of a three year program right now, and I just received an email from a recruiter wanting to talk about HPSP. I'd be more interested in loan repayment and addressed that I didn't qualify for HPSP. I haven't gotten a reply yet, lol. At any rate, do you think you could survive a temporary relocation with the monthly stipend and tuition paid? It might be worth it financially. They're obviously wanting to throw the HPSP at us PMHNP people. The navy and army are both interested right now although I'm only looking to pursue a reserve option. I'm interested in learning more about AD, but I don't think I want that level of commitment mostly because I don't want to move out of state for the long haul.

If you choose to get a DNP later I'm sure that would really accelerate your promotion potential even further and be a grandslam for a chief nursing position in the army or potentially even something akin to hospital commander. It's enticing.