130 ■ I: HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR ROLE DELINEATION
■ CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS
- After review of the chapter, has your individual thoughts or views on the AACN’s position
to move the level of preparation necessary for advance practice roles from a master’s degree
to doctoral level as requisite credential for entry into advanced practice nursing changed?
Why or why not? - If the DNP is mandated by regulatory bodies (licensure, accreditation, certification, and edu-
cation), will it be held to the same prescriptive expectations as the master’s- prepared ARPN? - Is there a need for a standardized, designated title to signify the educational preparation and
national credentialing of DNPs? Explain. - Do you feel that the DNP degree will support the triad of academia, practice, and research
related to the nursing profession? Discuss. - Will the DNP degree better prepare nurses to deal with the complexity of patient care en-
vironments, expand the knowledge base for practice, initiate and evaluate evidence- based
practice through clinical research, and meet the need for nursing leadership in education
and administration beyond that currently found within master’s- level programs? - Can preparation at the DNP level contribute to and sustain the perfect balance between teach-
ing and clinical practice competencies within the nursing profession? In other words, do you
feel the DNP may lessen the “theory– practice gap” as discussed by Little and Milliken (2007)? - Based on the experience of these two DrNP graduates from the start to the completion of
their terminal degree, can you see how the DNP supported a diverse perspective of roles
and myriad of opportunities that may have not been otherwise fulfilled with traditional
master’s- level advanced practice nursing education? - Can the health care industry afford a workforce made up of exclusively doctoral- prepared
ARPNs (DNPs)? Discuss. - The debate on how doctoral- level advanced practice nursing roles differ from master’s- level
advanced practice nursing roles is far from over. What areas of systematic evaluation related
to the impact of the DNP on the advanced practice workforce do you see as most pressing? - The rationale for the shift in academic preparation of nurses in advanced practice has fo-
cused on several issues including how the transition to clinical doctoral preparation for
APRNs can be conducted so that master’s- prepared APRNs will not be disenfranchised in
any way. Based on your knowledge and the information provided within this chapter, can
this transition be handled smoothly? How should it proceed?
■ NOTES
- Both initials DNP and DrNP stand for doctor of nursing practice , although all programs now use DNP
initials, except some doctoral programs in nurse anesthesia. Because the DrNP degree is termed
a hybrid professional doctorate and emphasizes both advanced practice and the conduct of practical
clinical research, it used different initials. - On a serious note, however, we highly discourage the use of the word doctor to describe one who is
actually a physician. There are lots of doctors in health care, including DNPs who complete the doc-
torate. By using the proper title physician , we are describing their role and their profession. Even to
a patient we recommend saying for example, “What did your physician prescribe for you?” - In nursing, a practice-focused doctorate is akin to the DNP while a research-focused doctorate is
akin to the PhD.