240 ■ III: ROLE FUNCTIONS OF DOCTORAL ADVANCED NURSING PRACTICE
approaches for quality and safety improvement in practice settings, applies research
processes to decision making, and translates credible research findings to increase the
effectiveness of both direct and indirect nursing practice. Some of the specific competen-
cies outlined in the AACN’s essentials document for the DNP clinical executive include
the abilities to use sophisticated, conceptual, and analytical skills in evaluating the links
among clinical, organizational, fiscal, and policy issues; establish processes for interor-
ganizational collaboration for the achievement of organizational goals; design patient-
centered care delivery systems or policy- level delivery models; collaborate effectively
with legal counsel and financial officers around issues related to legal and regulatory
guidelines; and demonstrate advanced levels of clinical judgment, cultural sensitivity,
and systems thinking (AACN, 2006). The responsibilities for the DNP clinical executive
may be daunting. As the leader, the DNP clinical executive will most likely not have
a DNP- prepared CEO or role models to guide him or her as he or she navigates this
senior executive role. He or she may experience the loneliness associated with a senior
administration position. Fellow senior administrators and physicians may feel threat-
ened with the credentials, power, influence, and position of the DNP clinical executive
who traditionally did not hold a doctorate to serve in that leadership role.
THE DNP- PREPARED EDUCATOR
Current expectations of the tripartite nursing faculty role in relation to teaching, schol-
arship, and service are not realistic in advancing nursing science, clinical practice, or
education. Nursing faculty juggle large teaching and service loads while attempting
to engage in scholarship. For those nursing faculty who are research active, the jug-
gling act is even more pronounced. In addition, few nursing faculty, with the exception
of those faculty employed at universities with an academic health center, have formal
practice appointments as part of their faculty role allowing them to stay clinically cur-
rent to inform their teaching. For example, many nurse practitioners, nurse- midwifery,
and nurse anesthesia faculty have outside practice obligations to maintain their clinical
hours/ expertise for specialty certification, in addition to their full- time faculty appoint-
ments. With the introduction of the DNP educator, the profession has an opportunity
to reexamine the various roles of nurse faculty and create a model that encourages the
faculty to master one or two areas rather than the current “jack of all trades” approach.
The authors suggest three roles for the nurse in academic positions: nurse scientist for
the PhD- prepared faculty member, educator clinician, and clinician educator for both
the PhD and DNP- prepared faculty. Nursing education must redefine the expectations
of the nursing faculty with a primary focus on research, teaching, or clinical. The DNP
educator is in a unique position to serve in the educator clinician role (e.g., 80% educa-
tion and 20% practice) or clinician educator role (e.g., 80% practice and 20% education)
as they are able to integrate the knowledge they present in the classroom with a clinical
practice context, yet they also have the educational theory to draw on in the classroom.
However, this will not be easy as the academy is an institution ensconced in tradition
and may not embrace the DNP educator role as an equal. Therefore, the DNP educator
may be viewed as a second- class citizen in the academy causing additional role strain
as well as experience role overload from the tripartite role in academe and additional
practice requirements. There is dissonance in the academy regarding the role and contri-
butions of the DNP- prepared faculty member. According to Udlis and Mancuso (2015),
DNP participants felt prepared for the demands of the faculty role and the requisite ten-
ure, research, and scholarship requirements. PhD participants disagreed that the DNP