Reply To: Potential Crisis in Nurse Practitioner Preparation in the United States

[Wichanee Borisuthirattana]

Thank you, David, for sharing this article. The potential concerns about the number of nurse practitioners in the near future, and the perspectives toward nurse practitioners and relating clinicians may become critical reasons for potential NP candidates to decide against the profession. As reported in Mundinger & Carter (2019), since the American Association of Colleges of Nursing allowed DNP programs to include nonclinical DNP curriculum, the number of graduate students pursuing clinical DNP degree, such as NP and CNS, are decreased. There are also other concerns regarding the nonclinical DNP programs such as the fast-growing nonclinical DNP programs that is exceeding the number of clinical DNP programs. A more flexible schedule and curriculum between part-time and full-time study may also post some doubt regarding the credibility and the competency of the graduates. I understand the future issues that Dr. Mundinger and Dr. Carter may feel uneasy about. However, I think there are still some hope that there will be a rising number of clinical DNP graduates in the near future. More and more clinical nurses view NP as a great opportunity for professional growth. And as NPs are allowed to practice independently in more states, I believe the option of pursuing clinical DNP degree will be a more favorable one. Although the data from the article may be recent, I believe that NP is becoming a more and more popular profession among clinical nurses. I also think that the flexibility of the schedule and the curriculum would promote the growth of the NP candidates. As nurses are working full-time trying to earn income for their family, it is the flexibility of the school that they needed in order to complete their degree. Some may need longer time than the others, but eventually the profession would welcome another competent clinical DNP graduate.