At a time when other schools on campus are getting cut, the Binghamton University Decker School of Nursing will introduce two new programs next fall through external funding sources.
Decker will launch a doctorate in nursing practice program, offering advanced-practice nurses the opportunity to gain clinical and leadership expertise beyond the master’s degree level. The DNP program will start off with 25 students and will gradually increase in number in following years.
The second program, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program, will also accommodate 25 students each year.
The DNP program is based on the current master’s level nurse practitioners programs, and there is no additional cost for developing the DNP program degree here at BU.
“The DNP program is not going to require hiring new faculty,” Theresa Grabo, Decker’s director of graduate programs, said.
The faculty teaching in current master’s programs will also teach in the DNP program.
But as the program expands, it will require additional funding. Grabo expects that external funding will help pay for the growth, as administrators hope to apply for a federal grant as the enrollment increases.
According to Grabo, the DNP program will replace parts of the master’s nurse practitioner program by 2015.
“This is a tremendous benefit to the school,” Grabo said. “We will be meeting the national standard for advanced practice education.”
BU is the second SUNY school to offer the DNP program. Stony Brook University approved its own version of the program in January 2008 and started it in June of the same year, according to Howard Cooper, director of finance and administration at Stony Brook.
Until the DNP program is running, it will be open exclusively to nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists with a master’s degree. Once the program is running though, students with a bachelor of science degree in nursing can enroll as well.
“We will be better able to serve the health care needs of the region, state and nation with the addition of these programs,” Gale Spencer, Decker chair in community health, said.
The psychiatric mental health program is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Sen. Tom Libous also secured seed money for BU to begin the program, according to Grabo.
Spencer said that in order to apply to the psychiatric mental health program, students must already hold a bachelor of science degree in nursing.
The programs, which have been in the works for a few years, received approval from the Decker School of Nursing, BU’s graduate school, the state board of nursing and SUNY Central.
Dr. Pam Stewart Fahs, Decker endowed chair in rural nursing, will be teaching in the doctorate in nursing practice program.
“We are very excited about DNP,” she said. “It allows people interested in maintaining clinical practice to obtain their doctorate.”
According to Fahs, students will be able to work in a clinical realm as well as work on policy issues and research.
The DNP program will require more clinical time and more coursework, along with much stricter requirements, according to Fahs.
“Many mental health systems do not have enough people,” Fahs said. “This will meet a real need in the community.”