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This article is important for all DNP prepared graduates and faculty. We are proud to see the list of authors as they have been a big part of the world of the DNP and the DNP Inc. organization for many years.
Please click HERE to see this article.
Tags: Education, Policy
We just covered this issue of how DNP graduates can fill the nursing faculty gap in my advanced role and collaboration class. After reading this article, I agree with the issue of making a doctorate in nursing, the main entry level in nursing advanced practice.
The roles of Nurse practitioners(NP) have increased in the past years, and it is advisable to attain a doctorate so that more improved care based on evidence-based practices is provided. DNP graduates can use their knowledge, highest education, expertise, and background to fill all the complicated roles of the increasing demand in advanced nursing care. DNP graduates are qualified to help decrease this gap due to the knowledge and skills we have in research. Research is vital in furthering nursing and advanced science inquiry. A doctorate graduate is qualified, and I agree to educate all the NP to the doctorate level. It will be challenging to convince all NP to attain more education by 2025; however, this will be an outstanding achievement in the nursing community. Transitioning the current working nurse practitioners to a DNP entry level can be done by working collaboratively with states, national educational institutes, and health care systems. Financial resources can also help boost NP to attain their degrees. More faculties are needed that can teach NP to DNP. However, there is a shortage of nursing educators due to less pay and a large workload. Financial incentives should be provided to entice more nurses to enter the education field to help educate more nurses.
Thank you for sharing your insights, Rehema. One issue that this article doesn’t discuss is licensure. Advanced practice licensure is different for every state, which complicates the idea that doctoral preparation should be the entry degree for practice. This is called the LACE initiative (Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, and Evaluation). Have you heard of this?
With respect to the complicating factors relating to state-controlled licensure, it would be interesting to find out how the other health professions who require doctoral prep for ENTRY into practice have handled this. This now includes clinical Psychology (PsyD),Speech Path, Audiology (Aud D), Occupational Therapy (OTD), Physical Therapy (DPT), and Pharmacology (PharmD).
You ask a good question, Jean. I also wonder what other professions have in terms of licensure (state-by-state, etc.) I suspect each state Board of (fill in the blank) has their own rules like we do in nursing. If anyone can share more, please do.
Academia has always been at the forefront of not just advanced nursing practice, but nursing science as a whole. Some hospitals participate in the pursuit to reach Magnet Status- which is a status that indicates that nursing staff provide initiatives to create change within the hospital. To achieve Magnet status, nursing staff are required to have a BSN in nursing to qualify, providing that nursing staff have the education to participate in the changes needed to create a better work environment, for the current, and future of the hospital. This initiative relates to advanced practice nurses obtaining the DNP degree versus the MSN. It prepares the advanced practice practitioner to be a change agent in an ever-changing field of nursing. Transformational leadership has been described as has been described as a “style of leadership in which the leader identifies the needed change, creates vision to guide change through inspiration, and executes the change with the commitment of the members of the group” (Marshall, 2011, p. 3). DNP prepared nurses may find this style of leadership powerful because they may have opportunities to identify areas that need change by working alongside their colleagues (Chism, 2019). Having advance practice nurses obtain a DNP versus a MSN degree affords the practitioner to be the change agent to create a brighter future for nursing.
Chism, L.A. (2019) The Doctor of Nursing Practice: A Guidebook for Role Development and Professional Issues (4the ed). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN 13: 978-1284141856.