14: LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY ■ 331■ ROLE AND RELEVANCE OF THE DOCTORAL APN
AND TECHNOLOGY
There are many opportunities and roles within health care for the doctorally prepared
APN. According to AACN (2006), the role of the doctoral APN is specifically in the
clinical setting; some DNP programs also focus on the administrator/ executive role.
Generally, within contemporary DNP programs, the APRN must select one of the
AACN endorsed roles— either the clinical practitioner or the executive role.
In the clinical setting, the doctoral APN works as a nurse practitioner, clinical
nurse specialist, nurse midwife, or nurse anesthetist. In this role, the doctoral APN is the
clinical expert providing direct care to the patient. In the administrator/ executive role,
the doctoral APN serves in a position of nursing leadership, such as director of nursing,
vice president of nursing, or any other nursing leadership role.
Although not endorsed by the AACN, some programs also acknowledge the
DNP’s expanded role of clinical scientist in the clinical research industry, and of nurse
educator providing additional coursework to prepare students for these roles. These
specially trained doctoral APNs will be uniquely prepared to meet not only the need in
for these specialty roles but also the challenges associated with these roles.
In an academic setting, clinical setting, or staff development setting, the in- depth
clinical expertise of the doctoral APN can contribute significantly to the education of
current and future generations of health care providers. With that wealth of clinical
expertise, coupled with the current and projected nursing faculty shortage, the doctor-
ally prepared APN may be well poised to fill the gap. However, the AACN maintains
that the doctoral APN is not sufficiently prepared to serve in an educator role unless
there is “additional preparation in the science of pedagogy to augment their ability to
transmit the science of the profession they practice and teach” (2006, p. 6). The clinical
scientist APN will conduct clinical research and assist staff nurses with activities for
any ongoing clinical trials/ clinical research activities. Table 14.2 identifies the repre-
sentative technology competencies for these specific doctoral advanced practice roles.
■ BEYOND THE DNP DEGREE: STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING
AND MAINTAINING ESSENTIAL SKILLS
LIBRARY SEARCH SKILLS
Development of library database research- related skills among doctoral APNs is essen-
tial to success. Health care providers need to learn how to access and evaluate infor-
mation used to make clinical decisions (Buus- Frank, 2004). Due to the overwhelming
amount of information available and the technological skill that is required to become
a thorough researcher, multiple library/ research- related workshops are strongly rec-
ommended. Whether a formal component within a program or offered on an individ-
ualized one- on- one basis, this method allows the librarian to go into more depth and
cover more material to build these essential competencies (Megaw & McClendon, 2003).
Table 14.3 includes a selected database resource list that is highly recommended for any
graduate nursing student.
Both practicing doctoral APNs and students who are entering a DNP program
require training to familiarize themselves with the primary academic library they have
access to and ensure their database research skills are up to date. Components of com-
prehensive library training include an orientation to the physical as well as the electronic