UCSF MEPN 2023

abw376 · Dec 20, 2022

16 hours ago, SanDiFrangles said:

Unfortunately, some of the UCSF MEPN pause of admissions might be related to nuts and bolts in external regulation requirements. I’ll do my best to try to explain:

All nursing colleges need to be accredited by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN -east) via the Commission on Collegiate Nurse Education (CCNE). (Sidebar, AACN -West refers to the American Association of Critical Care Nurses - which does not accredit college programs) Specifically, this might be related to accreditation and a very real fear that APRN certification agencies (“boards”) MIGHT mandate a doctorate to sit for certification exam … (currently all APRN certification bodies accept a masters or higher to sit for an exam … we haven’t seen the organization that accredits the boards (ABSNC) move towards requiring doctoral degrees, but in theory they could at some unknown point in the future since AACN -east has already been advocating this for some time.

What does this mean for you as a student? Picture this: you complete the MEPN program with your MS degree, you prep to test for your NP, CNS or CNM boards when you’re told you can’t take the test because you have a masters and not a doctorate. You’d have to spend $ for a doctoral degree or not take the certification which means you won’t be able practice.

A few things to point out:

-AACN -east has indicated doctoral degrees should be required for advanced practice as the entry requirement in a report around July 2022 and one section states:

“The report also calls for engaging APRN certification organizations to build momentum for requiring the DNP for entry into advanced practice nursing and for establishing academic-practice partnerships focused on DNP education and practice.”

(https://www.aacnnursing.org/News-Information/News/View/ArticleId/25226/New-Report-on-DNP-Education-2022)

So the next question is this, why not offer a direct entry doctoral program instead of a direct entry masters program ?

- Currently, no such direct entry doctoral program exists in the United States.
- According to accreditation requirements, in order to take doctoral coursework you need a minimum of a ASN or BSN prior to enrollment. You cannot have a degree in another field and take doctoral coursework.
- In theory the school could offer this but they’d really be risking their accreditation status and AACN -east could put their accreditation in jeopardy.

UCSF SON might be a bit late to the DNP conversion party, which likely explains the knee-jerk reaction we’ve seen. A few other schools have already made this transition years ago … off the top of my head I’m thinking about UMB and UW, I’m sure their are others.

In my view, pausing the admission for MEPN was the right decision. CSU and community colleges are set up to educate prelicensure students (albeit in a saturated market in the Bay Area it’s tough) so that might be a route to explore and then apply to the APRN program of your choice. Also, UCSF is a graduate school only, its charter does not allow for granting of undergraduate degrees. I thought perhaps a joint degree with Berkley might be an option but unsure if that’s a realistic solution.

Hello! Thanks for this clarity. This is helpful context for why UCSF had the knee-jerk reaction to pull the MEPN program. I agree, it sounds like the best choice was for UCSF to delay the MEPN program until the DNP element is sorted out.

The greatest challenge with this for me was I have been preparing to apply to UCSF since 2018, planning out pre-requisites, and even re-taking Statistics last year because of the four-year limit. UCSF did not alert us they were not going to be accepting applications for the MEPN program until after the historic deadline for applications for the program in early September! I just found this lack of transparency and communication disrespectful to those of us who have been working hard toward the opportunity to apply to UCSF.

I was just accepted into the UW ABSN-DNP Midwifery program, which I am super excited about, and actually think it is a better fit program-wise for me! However- I definitely feel for those who were in my position, who pushed really hard to be eligible to apply to UCSF and didn't even have the opportunity to apply!

mmCA · Jan 6, 2023

Wow, I somehow missed the Dec 15 announcement on the UCSF website saying that MEPN is now off the table until at least fall 2025. Back in September, when they cancelled this year's MEPN application cycle, I signed up to receive notification of future program announcements. I definitely did not get any kind of notice. Such a huge disappointment.