The Doctor of Nursing Practice: Looking Back, Moving Forward

Abstract and Introduction

In 2004, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) began what promises to be at least a decade-long conversation about advanced practice nursing education, when they adopted the position to move the current level of preparation necessary for advanced nursing practice roles from the master's degree to the doctoral level by the year 2015. This conversation and subsequent resolutions to adopt the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) credential as the required terminal practice doctorate are at the center of discussions about nursing education throughout the nation. This article provides an overview of the development of doctoral education in nursing, reviews the literature that outlines the rationale for the degree, reviews the benefits and risks of a new doctoral degree for advanced practice nursing, and proposes suggestions for moving forward.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has begun what promises to be at least a decade-long conversation about advanced practice nursing education. In 2004, the AACN adopted the position to move the current level of preparation necessary for advanced nursing practice roles from the master's degree to the doctoral level by the year 2015.^[1] The following year in October, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), the autonomous accrediting body of the AACN, unanimously decided that only practice doctorate degrees with the credential Doctor of Nursing Practice, DNP, will be considered for CCNE accreditation.^[2] These decisions have precipitated a flurry of debate, controversy, and disquiet the likes of which have not been seen in nursing education since the introduction in 1965 of the famously deceased "1985 Proposal."^[3]

This article provides an overview of the development of doctoral education in nursing, reviews the literature outlining the rationale for the degree, reviews the benefits and challenges of a new doctoral degree for advanced practice nursing, and identifies some of the issues that have emerged since introduction of this new educational option.

Cite this: The Doctor of Nursing Practice: Looking Back, Moving Forward - Medscape - Feb 01, 2008.

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