DNP Opinions at ACNP Conference
Responding to a question from the floor at this morning's opening session, current ACNP president Thad Wilson and immediate past president Julie Stanik-Hutt offered their personal opinions about the need for NPs to earn a DNP degree by 2015.
Wilson sees the DNP as good for the nurse practitioner profession, if not necessarily for each individual NP. NPs, he said, are already more educated than their master's degrees would indicate, and so they are undercredentialed - they deserve the recognition that a doctorate brings. And although right now a DNP degree doesn't typically mean a higher salary, he believes that it will in the future.
Stanik-Hutt said she has learned that organizations that accredit university programs intend to continue to accredit NP master's programs as long as NP master's programs are offered - and no one believes that all NP master's programs will disappear by 2015. Also, staffers at the American Nurses Credentialing Center have told her that the organization will require a DNP for certification when the NPs applying to sit for the exams have a DNP.
"You'll need a DNP when your state requires it," she said. And she concluded, "I don't think this will be a requirement by 2015."
Her advice: Get a DNP if you think it will improve your practice. This might be a better investment for a newer NP with a long career ahead.