<p>DeSales</a> University: DeSales starts doctors of nursing program - mcall.com</p>
<p>Excerpt:</p>
<p>"In 2004, members of the Washington, D.C.-based American Association of Colleges of Nurses made the decision to increase the level of education required for an advanced practice nurse from a graduate to a doctoral degree.</p>
<p>He said the association's goal date for the requirement changes to take place is 2015. The 11-year delay after the recommendation was meant as a transition period for educational institutions.</p>
<p>Rosseter said it's up to the states to make the decision to require the DNP...Nicholas Winkler of the PA. Department of State said Pennsylvania currently does not require the DNP for nurse practitioners .... universities nationwide have begun DNP programs. Rosseter said that according to association records, seven programs were offered in 2004. The number has ballooned to 153 programs, 11 of them in Pennsylvania."</p>
<p>While attending “Pitt Start” (University of Pittsburgh’s summer orientation) with my daughter two weeks ago I was surprised when, at the nursing school presentation, they announced that they are winding down their masters programs and going forward it will be necessary to get a doctorate in order to become a nurse practitioner. I’m just a lay person but I don’t see this as a positive development. If there is already a shortage of advanced practice nurses, how will it help the situation by adding the REQUIREMENT of a couple more years of schooling? Geez, if you are going to have to go to school for that long you might at well just go to med school and become a doctor. (I know the roles are different.) And what does a nurse with a doctorate call herself or himself? “Hello. I’m Doctor Nurse Smith.” ?? </p>
<p>Will advanced practice nurses with a doctorate be paid more to reflect their additional education and the expense in time and dollars they bore to get it? I’m skeptical.</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>When I think of a doctorate degree, I think of someone forced to do excessive amount of research about an extremely narrow topic. I hope nursing doctorates would emphasize more useful knowledge about all medical topics.</p>
<p>I have been a clinician in the Healthcare Field for over 35 years. I believe what you are seeing develop in Nursing now is what has occurred in other Healthcare disciplines (i.e. Medicine, Psychology, etc.) over the years. As interest in these fields increased there has been a progressive increase in the credentials/degrees a clinician needs to obtain in order to practice. I am sure the AACN has a voluminous document to support its new position with their bottom line probably being that patients will receive better clinical care with more highly credentialed/degreed clinicians.</p>
<p>Call me cynical but I believe there also is a hidden agenda here. It comes down to a matter of supply/demand and income. A potential increase in a number of clinicians in a field will put current clinicians at a greater risk for having more difficulty finding patients to treat and therefore is a potential threat to their income. It does not matter if there appears to be a shortage of a particular type of clinician, this fear is still going to be there. One way to address this fear is to limit the number of clinicians in the field. One way to do this is to increase the degree requirements to make the field less attractive to people interested in it.
While I certainly don’t believe this is the primary reason for the proposed changes I do feel it is an unspoken concern of the “big wigs” in Nursing, all of whom I venture to guess have Doctoral degrees. </p>
<p>If someone has good research data to support the view that MSN degreed NP’s are providing inferior or incompetent care (within the scope of their practice) because they do not have a Doctoral Degree I would love to see it. While I do agree that a Doctoral degree might allow a nurse to expand their clinical role in the care of patients (I am not exactly sure how), requiring all NP’s to have it seems a little premature to me, considering the current need for more NP’s with the pending Healthcare reforms about to take place. Unfortunately this probably is going to happen whether we like it or not (unless there is some federal legislation to impede its implementation). </p>
<p>Just my thoughts.</p>
<p>^^^
Excellent points Mwallenmd.</p>
<p>I am an incoming freshman to Pitt’s school of nursing. My ultimate goal is to be a nurse practitioner and I’ve already received guaranteed admission to grad school with my acceptance (with certain stipulations). I am disappointed about this change because I feel like it will take me forever to ultimately achieve my goal. I’m not interested in the other master’s programs that Pitt offers in the nursing field, but I know that I’d like my education to go beyond a BSN. It seems that the master’s programs have less to do with patient care, and more to do with administration (with the exception of the anesthesia program).</p>
<p>I’d love to hear from students already in the graduate program or some working nurses. What options are there now available?</p>
<p>Yes, I realize that I haven’t even started my freshman year yet, but I’m one of those people that functions best with a “plan”!</p>
<p>I agree with everything that’s been said here. The fact that it came down from the American Association of College of Nurses speaks to the fact that they want to limit, and also enhance the prestige of, the profession. For some it may not be an overt tactic, but just an expression of their love of bureaucracy, enhanced standards, and power over educational institutions.</p>
<p>Everything in health care is pointing towards more affordable care being given by primary care providers, with PAs and NPs being a critical need. Why add so many years and so much cost to a student nurse’s burden, when it is not needed? Who really benefits? And how is this “doctoral degree” different from an MD or Phd? It’s not an MD and it doesn’t bring the research of a Phd, so why is it called a doctoral degree? They could have tightened up the masters programs if they wanted to, this DNP just makes no sense.</p>
<p>Actually the situation is much worse than most people realize. As more and more Programs at Colleges/Universities begin to switch to a Doctoral requirement there are going to be fewer and fewer Programs to get into to obtain a MSN/NP degree. This is going to create a progressive backlog with waiting lists for BSN grads to get into these Programs before they are all gone. For example, Penn has no openings in its MSN/Family NP Program until the summer of 2013. My advice to any BSN who wants to obtain a MSN/NP degree is to get into a Program ASAP before you are closed out. There are still many Programs available now but this might not last long. As long as you get into a Program before 2015 you would be able to complete it after 2015 (at least this is my understanding).</p>
<p>[AACN</a> - DNP - FAQs](<a href=“http://www.aacn.nche.edu/dnp/dnpfaq.htm]AACN”>http://www.aacn.nche.edu/dnp/dnpfaq.htm)</p>
<p>The above link describes the proposed change. I assume that if a state does not change its requirements, then a doctorate would not be needed in that state.</p>
<p>It seems like my NP dream is being dashed/delayed. When will we know which state will go with the doctorate degree or not?</p>
<p>^I’m in the same boat as you. If I wanted to go to school for 8 years, I’d go to med school. </p>
<p>I’m also concerned that even if I manage to get into an msn program before it phases out and I get my np license, what chance do I have of getting a job if I’m competing against all these dnp’s?</p>
<p>Also, what kind of job opportunities would be available for nurses with their masters if they can’t become np’s?</p>