1. Education for Advanced Practice
DNP, PhD, and Dr.NP?

2. Support for DNP
• In 2004, the American Association of Colleges
of Nursing voted to support the doctor of
nursing practice degree as the entry level
educational credential for advanced practice
by 2015.

3. Enrollments
• Despite the surge in the number of new PhD
programs, there has been a decline in overall
enrollment and graduation numbers remain
flat. It takes 8.3 years to complete the
doctoral degree.

4. First DNP
• DNP was first offered by the College of
Nursing at the University of Kentucky in 2001.

5. Origin of Today’s DNP
• The model can be traced back to Dean
Mundinger of the Columbia University School
of Nursing who published a clinical trial that
led to the establishment of the DNP Model.

6. Nursing Urgent Needs
• More BSN Prepared Nurses
• Nursing Faculty

7. Institute of Medicine Report
1999, 2001, and 2003
• Called for reform in health professions
education because of:
• Rising health care errors
• Patient safety issues
• Failure of health disciplines to work
collaboratively and deliver optimal health
outcomes

8. Arguments for Clinical Practice
Programs
• Master’s Degree in Nursing contains enough
hours for doctoral degree
• Nursing, like physical therapy and pharmacy
should offer clinical practice degrees
• Because of knowledge explosion master’s
degrees not long enough to encompass full
breadth of course work necessary for
advanced practice

9. DNP versus DrNP
• DNP: Professional Practice Doctorate
• DrNP: Academic Practice Doctorate