9: CLINICAL SCHOLAR ROLE ■ 223audiences. There are many reasons for engaging in the dissemination process. These
include the sharing of ideas and new knowledge for the improvement of health care
delivery to influencing outcomes of health care. In addition, for practical purposes, dis-
semination activities are essential job requirements, including requirements for promo-
tion and tenure in any work setting. Thus, DNP preparation includes experiences aimed
at developing and increasing skills in manuscript writing as well as in oral presenta-
tions in the dissemination of ideas. In leadership roles, the DNP nurse can create the cli-
mate for scholarship for those with whom she or he works. Increasingly, the endeavor to
produce manuscripts for publication is carried on by writing teams that are engaged in
common activities in health care delivery. Likewise, the tasks of preparing and deliver-
ing oral as well as poster presentations become less daunting and onerous if undertaken
by teams of colleagues engaged in similar activities of dissemination. The DNP nurse
provides the needed leadership to get the initiative started, to provide the resources for
people to engage in these activities, and to encourage the work of continued and active
scholarship. This also provides opportunities for mentoring and mentorship among
nurses and other health care professionals who work together to achieve health care
goals for groups of patients.
■ SUMMARY: THE FUTURE OF THE DNP CLINICAL SCHOLAR
Whether the creation of this degree enhances the progress of the clinical scholarship for
the profession of nursing and furthers the quality of patient care depends entirely on
the nursing profession’s willingness to address the critical issues related to educational
quality, outcomes, and standards. Focusing on the issue of the preparation of the DNP
as a clinical scholar is of particular importance. At the current time, when standards
of DNP education are continuing to evolve, it is critically important that the skills and
competencies that have been articulated to prepare the DNP for this role be coupled
with specific parameters for identifying the outcomes of this preparation relative to this
role. Learning experiences in the educational and training curricula must emphasize
increasing skills in the application of translational research, while at the same time the
development of higher levels of competencies in the conduct of evaluation research and
dissemination of critical findings must be facilitated and monitored before the DNP is
granted the degree. The DNP graduate should be educated and trained for the increas-
ingly interprofessional nature of practice within a transformed health care system. To
prepare the DNP for the increased and enhanced roles in leadership, communication,
and team practice, there must be opportunities for inter- and intra- professional collabo-
ration, both between DNP and PhD nursing students as well as between DNP students
and other health professions’ students. Increasingly, many DNP students have found
opportunities to work with students in other fields such as engineering, public health,
health care administration, and business (AACN, 2015).
Nursing leaders and state and national organizations have spent considerable time
and finances ensuring the public, legislators, and other members of the health care com-
munity that the educational level that nurses currently possess results in high quality
care. Although it is intuitively appealing that educational requirements and standards
will address the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) concerns about patient safety and health
care quality (IOM, 2000, 2001, 2003), there are inconsistencies in the educational prepa-
ration of DNP nurses that may not fulfill the promise on the quality of patient care and
progress in the nursing profession. Studies relating educational preparation and quality
at the entry level do support that more and different education results in higher quality