550 ■ III: ROLE FUNCTIONS OF DOCTORAL ADVANCED NURSING PRACTICE
The emerging need for translational research, to bridge the gap between research
and practice, is growing significantly. Yet, many in academia fret that DNP- prepared
nurses should be excluded from being involved in research. Nothing could be further
from the truth. There is more than enough room for all doctoral nurses to contribute to
research.
Observing the hand wringing over how the essentials are addressed in DNP
programs is puzzling. Regarding the DNP scholarly project, such great emphasis is
placed on the end product, the importance of the content of the courses can appear
almost an afterthought. There is no arguing the point that nursing needs all doctoral
nurses to disseminate knowledge in writing. There is no arguing the point that DNP
students develop important projects with the potential to improve health care, and
can do so only by being published. Further, publishing one’s scholarly work is an
example of Boyer’s scholarship of integration, which is essential for those pursu-
ing careers in academia. According to Peterson and Stevens (2013) academics equate
acceptable publications solely with the peer- review process creating a dilemma for
the advanced practice nurse academician. Therefore, to prepare nurses with practice
doctorates to survive in academic settings, DNP programs must support and facilitate
students writing for publication. Beyond that need, there is the real need within the
profession to disseminate knowledge, as voiced in the chapter. Many within nursing
voice the concern that, if nurses themselves do not disseminate knowledge from their
practice environments, the only evidence in health care used in practice will be from
other disciplines. The authors point out that, in addition to the negative influence on
health care, the profession of nursing suffers. Nursing’s image, while positive, con-
tinues to be one of an assistant in the health care milieu, and it is a false image, with
many negative implications for the workforce, including lower salaries, substandard
working conditions, and the loss of the “best and brightest” to other “STEM” (science,
technology, education, and math) professions. Beyond the negative implications for
the individual nurse, and the profession, is the risk that this poses to global health.
Limiting opportunities for DNP- prepared primary nursing clinicians, scholars, and
clinician– scholars artificially constrains the contributions they can make in improving
health care at the local, regional, national, and global levels. Maximizing and optimiz-
ing outcomes in health care is dependent on fully using the contributions of all doc-
toral nurses with, as the co-authors of this chapter so eloquently state, “the synergy
of a community of who are uniquely qualified and extraordinarily prepared to bridge
the gap between practice and the academy” (p. 539).
■ CONCLUSION
The essentials should serve as a framework and guide for DNP programs. Graduates
of DNP programs should not be limited or constrained by the essentials but should
use them as a springboard, to launch their careers. Nursing must not fall into the trap
other professions have, that of jealously protecting areas of nursing practice to the
detriment of the profession. One has only to observe organized medicine’s attempts
to prevent advanced practice nurses from practicing to the full extent of their educa-
tion and competency to understand the futility and waste in protectionism. Nursing
will best serve its own interests and those of society by celebrating the richness in its
diversity.