The Binghamton University Decker School of Nursing is set to offer a doctoral degree program this fall that would allow students to earn credit toward a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree (DNP).
In recent years, the DNP degree has been developed and instituted at colleges and universities across the country to provide candidates for more advanced nursing positions with the highest level of training and qualification possible.
In 2004, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) formally recommended that the degree requirement for all advanced practice nurses be shifted from the master’s level to the doctoral level by 2015.
“The decision to offer the DNP degree was made in response to changing educational demands of the health care profession,” said Theresa Grabo, director of graduate programs for the Decker School. “This has been in discussion within the University and Decker School administrations for the past three years, during which we determined that a DNP program fits well with the strategic plan of the University.”
In a press release issued by the University last week, Joyce Ferrario, dean of the Decker School, stated that BU already has the faculty and resources needed to teach DNP degree courses.
“Nurses prepared at the doctoral level will significantly impact health care outcomes,” Ferrario stated in the press release. “The blend of clinical, organizational, economic and leadership skills that the DNP offers will expand Binghamton University’s contribution to the training of nursing faculty in a time when we are facing a national and statewide shortage of nursing personnel.”
According to Grabo, the DNP program will require three years for part-time students who have already obtained a master’s degree in nursing, and two years for full-time post-master’s students.
BU is hoping to enroll 25 of each type of students in the program when it begins in the fall, and expand the class size thereafter.
The University won’t begin accepting students with bachelor’s degrees in nursing into the DNP program until the fall 2011 semester, after which they will require approximately four years to earn the DNP diploma if enrolled part time or three years if full time, Grabo said.
Doctoral candidates will be able to choose between coursework tracks preparing them to become either a nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist, and many of the classes are available online.
“The type of people who would be pursuing a doctoral degree in nursing typically work in the field or have families already,” Grabo said. “If we required them to be on campus every day, it would be too inhibiting to allow them to earn their degrees. Therefore, the program will consist of a mix of online and classroom learning.”
Katherine Johnson, a senior in the Decker School, said that she applauded the move to put nursing on an equal footing with other professions requiring doctoral degrees, including pharmacology and physical therapy.
“This is a good thing,” Johnson said. “We [nursing students] feel that we deserve to be trained at the most advanced level possible. Very few students who I have spoken with are saying that needing a doctorate would discourage them from going on to post-bachelor’s study.”
Stacey Bender, also a senior in the Decker School who hopes to eventually become a nurse practitioner, echoed this sentiment, saying she believed the DNP degree would raise the prestige of nursing.
“I think it would get rid of the mentality amongst parts of the public that nursing is a lesser profession if nurses held doctorates,” she said.
Stony Brook is the only other SUNY school to offer the degree.