Rounding the corner to 2015... What's the status on DNP requirements in your region?

chare · Sep 18, 2014

If you are referring to certification or licensure, the DNP/DNAP will be required initial certification in 2025 for CRNAs. Other than that, no other certifying organization has decided when, or if they are going to transition to requiring a DNP for initial certification. Regarding licensure, to my knowledge, no state board of nursing has decided when, or if they will require a DNP for initial licensure.

As far as nurse practitioner programs, while some have transitioned there are still many that have not. Additionally, some universities that were planning on phasing out their MSN option NP programs appear to be delaying this decision.

zmansc, ASN, RN · Sep 19, 2014

OP - A good place to look for info on this is your state board of nursing, typically their is a section where they publish how to obtain your NP license. I have not found a single state that has a requirement for a DNP to obtain a license. Many (most) have a requirement for a MSN and passing one of the national boards to obtain your license, but I can't find one state that requires a DNP or plans on requiring it.

I expect that the 2015 recommendation will pass with less and less fanfare, and either become a thing of the past or be replaced by another arbitrary date as a recommendation for people to use as scare tactics and talk about while not actually knowing all of the facts.

Several years back when I was in my ADN program for my RN, a professor told our entire class that a neighboring state was going to require a BSN to work as a RN at the end of that year. While this particular professor continued to lecture us on how we needed our BSNs just to practice, I emailed that state's BON to verify it was not true. I got the email back almost immediately, that basically read "We have no plans to make such a change, nor has their been any plans to do so that we know of". A few minutes after I got this email, while the professor was still telling us that we needed our BSN to work, I raised my hand and read the email and the response. I didn't get a very good grade whenever that professor graded my papers, coincidence? I think not!