Will DNPs be chosen over MSNs?

[Le-Lee_FNP]

There has been a lot of talk about the possible saturation of the NP market as well as that of other advanced practice nursing roles (CRNA for example) and I am just wondering if this is true, then will the DNP new grads have a better chance at obtaining a job then MSNs will? I am just wondering if it will be the same as when the market got tight for RNs, and BSNs were hired over ASNs and diploma nurses. Do you all anticipate the same situation occuring in Advanced Practice Nursing, even if the "requirement" isn't fully implemented?

[criticalHP, MSN, RN]

So ... what role/job do you see yourself in? A staff nurse role? An APN at the bedside of an ICU patient? etc. I would start your essay by discussing the role you see for yourself and then discuss the type of leadership provided by nurses in that role. Even staff nurses can (and should) be leaders. If you are not interested in ANY aspect of leadership, then perhaps you don't need an advanced education.

Another aspect of this situation that may apply to you ... A lot of us get education that isn't exactly required to do our jobs. For example, I have a PhD -- but I have a job that doesn't require a PhD and I certainly don't use all of the advanced theory, research, and philosophy work I did in my PhD program. That doesn't mean it was a waste of time for me. It enriched my understanding of nursing and the world around me and I am glad I invested my time, effort, and money in that education. While I don't use all of it in my current job, I use bits and pieces of it. And who knows what I might find helpful tomorrow?

The DNP situation is still "new" and "evolving." It's not perfect ... but then, neither is anything else. None of us can predict the future. But we can look at the past and present -- and they indicate that nursing is moving towards higher levels of education for most roles. Don't ignore that fact as you think through what makes the most sense for you and your career goals.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I'm glad you replied to this thread. As a PhD holder, what do you see differentiates the DNP from your doctoral degree? As I understand it, both are research and theory based with no additional clinical hours required for the DNP.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I'm glad you replied to this thread. As a PhD holder, what do you see differentiates the DNP from your doctoral degree? As I understand it, both are research and theory based with no additional clinical hours required for the DNP.

No, they are not both equally research and theory based -- at least not to the same degree. The DNP's only get a fraction of what the typical PhD program requires in terms of philosophy, theory, and research. For example, in my PhD program I took 6 separate research methodology courses plus 2 doctoral level statistics classes. No DNP program comes close to that. I also took a philosophy of science course, plus a couple of courses that were basically nursing philosophy courses. I also took 2 theory course -- one on the analysis of theories, the other on developing theories. Again, those types of courses are not found in dnp programs. Each course was a full semester long and worth 3 academic credits. They prepare one to be the developers and guardians of the disiciplinary knowledge base. Then of course there were a couple of electives thrown in there, too -- as well as my dissertation.

DNP programs focus on preparing people for advanced practice roles -- with much less emphasis on the heavy scholarship of the discipline. They include some research, some theory, etc., but not as much and not to the same depth. The student is expected to enter the program already having achieved the basic clinical competence in the advanced role in their Master's program (NP, CNS, administrator, etc.) -- or to acquire that clinical competence in those courses of their BSN-DNP program. The DNP coursework adds another layer to strengthen their ability to use reearch-based knowledge in their practice and generate practice-based knowledge through a few scholarly activities -- but they don't focus on the nature of that knowledge and those knowledge processes to the same degree and depth as the PhD students.

To get a better feel, I suggest you look at the websites of various programs and compare the actual courses required for each type of program. Put them side by side to see the similarities and the differences.

[RED2]

IMHO the DNP was a school estab created monster...sorry but I missed the newsflash that practicing MSN NP's felt that if they only had 45 more credit hours their practice would be so much better......degree inflation...

I know of a couple CRNA's that are just 4year grads BSN (the MSN requirement did not come out until 1998) they are still practicing just fine...The DNP is a solution in search of a problem. I'm just not hearing the marketplace (if after Obombacare we still have a market place) in healthcare cry out for the DNP.

Doctors are just ***** because APRN will/are taking over marketshare (not clear if we need the DNP to do it)