A Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD)

Background and Significance

Nursing practitioners play a crucial role within the health care delivery system. Rapid changes in healthcare delivery, financial constraints and consumer demand have impacted the practice of all healthcare providers and are critical factors in the emergence of the role of advanced practice in nursing. Nursing education have evolved over the years, however the process of educating and preparing healthcare providers has faced many challenges throughout history (Groccia & Ford, 2020). The education of nursing practitioners has grown to prepare nurses to identify social determinants of health (SDOH), improve population health, and promote health equity (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). Nurse educators play a significant role in ensuring that student nurses are adequately prepared to achieve the course outcome and understand the curriculum. Additionally, nurse educators offer inspiration, mentorship and teach the next generation of nurses about the safe approach to future patient care. Having a DNP as a nursing school faculty member is essential because DNP-prepared nurses are well-equipped to fully implement the science developed by nurse researchers prepared in PhD, DNS, and other research-focused nursing doctorates (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2022). In addition, the evolving demands of the nation's complex healthcare environment require the highest levels of scientific knowledge and hands-on experience to ensure high-quality patient outcomes; the Institute of Medicine, the Joint Commission, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other agencies have called for a redesign of the educational programs that prepare today's health workers (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2022).

The DNP Essentials take the current MSN Essentials and expand them to include a focus on population health; The practice doctorate also addresses the gaps previously identified in master ‘s programs such as practice management, health policy, information technology, risk management, utilization and translation of evidence-based practice, and advanced diagnosis and management (Flanagan et al., 2021). According to McCauley et al., (2020) BSN prepared nurses without healthcare experience are enrolling in DNP programs to become system leaders and those with health care experience and are enrolling in DNP programs to become APRNs, who better to prepare them than DNP prepared nurses. (Giardino, 2014)

Literature Review

Nurse educators with the DNP degree are trained to develop a connection between nursing education and nursing practice. Bellini et al., (2012) argues that to ensure academic nursing progression and active clinical practice are achieved, nursing schools need to have a DNP or PhD as a faculty member as they have the ability to infuse extensive nursing practice knowledge in the nursing curriculum, and this can make a significant contribution towards elevating the gap between nursing education and the nursing practice. Furthermore, Carollo & Mason (2017) also asserts that DNP prepared nurses are appropriately positioned to offer nursing education to students and to encourage them to assume various role in nursing practice following their significant experience in multiple academic and clinical education settings. This affirms the advantage nursing schools have in utilizing a DNP prepared nurse as a faculty member. Other advantages include educator’ ability to emphasize the use of evidence-based approach, an extensive perspective regarding the systems-based issues, nursing experience and other related aspects which aid in preparing the nursing students for various challenges and rigours within the nursing roles and responsibilities (Carollo & Mason, 2017).

Edwards et al. (2018) also affirm that the National nursing organization advocates that the DNP is the preferred educator to prepare nurses for clinical leadership, practice, healthcare system restructuring and research translation into the clinical setting. This is mainly because, despite their specialty, the DNP also tend to have core competencies that tend to align with clinical leadership, health policy, health finance, organizational systems, informatics and the integration of evidence-based practice. Furthermore, Edwards et al. (2018). also identify that the ability to design and assess an innovative patient care model, cost-effectiveness relating to the patient’s care approach and the influence of the health policies in different healthcare levels holds significant knowledge to prepare new nurses to offer quality, safe and satisfactory health care services. McNelis et al. (2018) also supports the notion by affirming that evidence-based practice tends to be a thread throughout the DNP education, and as a result, it tends to strengthen the implementation of research-based interventions which are often utilized in the improvement of patient outcomes. The knowledge of evidence-based practice and its importance in healthcare delivery may be passed from one nursing generation to another by having DNP as a faculty member (McNelis et al., 2018).

Marrocco & El-Masri (2019) on the other hand argues that the constant increase in the population of DNP graduates in relation to the shortage of PhD-prepared nurses has majorly contributed to hiring DNP into higher education with minimal differentiation in the role of DNP and PhD. Additionally, the shift within the faculty mix is expected to increase and, as a result, create enormous confusion, which may, in future, threaten the PhD education investments if the special mandate between the DNP and the PhD, educations are not adequately addressed. Furthermore, the nursing practice tends to need the DNP to be able to effectively resolve various nursing issues. On the other hand, the nursing practice is also known to need the PhD to be able to develop and also perform innovative research within the nursing field (Marrocco & El-Masri, 2019). Thus, the belief that nursing education has the potential to tremendously benefit from the recruitment and incorporation of DNPs is guaranteed if the recruitment identifies the role of the DNP in the nursing practice. Furthermore in, research conducted by McNelis et al. (2018) , the authors identified that nursing DNP and PhD graduates pointed out that the knowledge attained from the degrees significantly enhanced and increased confidence in relation to their ability to perform research but also had limited confidence in incorporating the achieved research concepts in their teaching. This pointed out that there is a significant need for the DNPs and PhD to be provided with additional academic knowledge to enable them to effectively fulfil the teaching role. In general, to ensure that the essential nursing knowledge is effectively passed from one nurse generation to another, it is important to make sure that the PhD or DNP nurses in nursing schools are offered adequate knowledge to enhance their teaching skills (McNelis et al., 2018).

Swot Analysis

The SWOT analysis below offers an effective presentation of the various strengths and weaknesses that are linked to having a DNP nurse as a faculty member in a nursing school. Additionally, it will also identify the various opportunities and threats which are linked to having DNP as a faculty member and the other benefits or risks that may impact nursing education and the nursing practice.

PEST Analysis

Pest analysis has been conducted to offer a prediction of how the role of a DNP as a faculty member in a nursing school will benefit nursing education, the nursing field, and the general healthcare delivery system. The PEST analysis will focus on addressing the various external aspects that will impact the overall performance of the nursing practice.

Implementation Strategies

The need to have a DNP-prepared nurse be a faculty member in nursing school is crucial in ensuring that the various roles and responsibilities that have constantly increased due to healthcare delivery trends are adequately addressed. The DNP-prepared nurse tends to emphasize Evidence-based practice as the basic approach towards enhancing the quality of health care delivery. Additionally, as a faculty member, a DNP-prepared nurse will have the opportunity of instilling his or her leadership skills in guiding the new nurses towards understanding the essentialness of Evidence-based practice. Furthermore, also having a DNP-prepared nurse as a faculty member also contributes significantly to influencing and changing the overall perspective of nurse practitioners' role in the health care delivery system.

In general, the appropriate approach towards having a DNP-prepared nurse as a faculty member in a nursing school is first combining PhD and DNP together. This will ensure that there is no confusion regarding the key role of DNP and PhD-prepared nurses within the nursing practice. In addition, it is essential to ensure that the nursing practice goals and objectives are in alignment with the stakeholders' needs (Zaccagnini & White, 2021). Additionally, it is important to perform a needs assessment, educational plans, and development of teaching programs to ensure that the DNP-prepared nurses can offer quality and effective teaching sessions. Moreover, it is important to offer adequate information to all the concerned stakeholders to ensure they achieve an adequate understanding of the desired change.

Stakeholder Support

For the role implementation to be successful, it is essential to achieve the stakeholders' support. This is essential as it will promote open communication, sharing of ideas and a more collaborative decision-making approach which will promote the value of having a DNP-prepared nurse as a faculty member in a nursing school. Additionally, having support from both internal and external stakeholders is crucial as it influences the need to have DNP-prepared nurses as faculty members (Zaccagnini & White, 2021. Also, attaining individual opinions from both internal and external stakeholders ensures that the role is beneficial to all parties before implementing it.

The key stakeholders in the implementation of DNPs (Doctor of Nursing Practice) can include:

· Nurses – DNPs are advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who provide high-level care to patients.

· Patients – DNPs are involved in direct patient care and therefore, patients are a crucial stakeholder group in the implementation of DNPs.

· Employers – Health care organizations and hospitals are employers of DNPs, and they play a vital role in the implementation of DNPs by providing resources, support, and recognition of the role.

· Government agencies – Federal and state governments regulate the practice of nursing and have a role in the implementation of DNPs by setting standards and licensing requirements.

· Professional organizations – National and international organizations for nursing, such as the American Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau International, play a role in the implementation of DNPs by advocating for the role, promoting best practices, and offering education and professional development opportunities.

· Universities and academic institutions – These institutions play a crucial role in educating and preparing future DNPs, and they also have a role in the ongoing development and recognition of the role.

Financial Implication

Cost-benefit analysis may be used as a tool that identifies the essentialness of having DNP-prepared nurses as a requirement for being a faculty member in a nursing school. Allowing DNP to be a faculty member requirement have a positive impact on health care costs by making sure that new nurses are provided with adequate nursing practice training, which in turn promotes enhanced patient care, develops a healthy working environment, and establishes a cheerful outlook towards the nursing practice. In general, the financial implication of having a DNP as a requirement for one to be a faculty member in a nursing school tends to outweigh the negative implication within the nursing practice.

Evaluations and Measurement

To determine the essentialness of having a DNP to be a requirement for one to qualify as a faculty member in a nursing school, it is important to utilize dependable a valid tool. This will ensure credibility, hence promoting continuous action as support from the stakeholders. An appropriate approach for evaluating and measuring the requirement for having DNP to be a faculty member is through tracking data. This approach will review nurse-sensitive information which is correlated to patient harm, and poor care services, among other related information. This information tends to be crucial for reporting, intervention and action planning which are crucial to promoting quality care improvement and positive patient outcome.

Summary

DNPs develop a connection between nursing education and the nursing practice. Overall, clinical knowledge changes rapidly, which often leads to a disconnect between the clinical world and the nurse academics. In addition to ensuring nursing academic progression and active clinical practice are achieved, the nursing schools need to have an individual with DNP or PhD as a faculty member as they have the ability to infuse extensive nursing practice knowledge in the nursing curriculum, which has the ability to make a significant contribution towards elevating the gap between the nursing education and the nursing practice (Zaccagnini & White, 2021). Moreover, having a DNP or PhD as a nursing school faculty member is essential because despite supervising the nursing students during clinical rotations, they also enlighten the nursing students on the various key aspects to positive healthcare outcomes such as coordination, effective communication, and collaboration, among other related factors. Additionally, having a DNP or PhD as a faculty member is also essential, they are able to evaluate the student’s work and determine areas that need to be improved to ensure that the main purpose of the nursing practice within the health care system is adequately achieved and also the patient health needs are adequately addressed.

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2022). Fact Sheet: The Doctor of Nursing

Practice. https://www.aacnnursing.org/News-Information/Fact-Sheets/DNP-Fact-Sheet

DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT

Choose 2 of the following areas to discuss:

1. Do you think you are a role model for nursing practice in your healthcare setting? If so, what qualities enable you role-model effectively? If not, what qualities would enhance your ability to role-model?

2. What social determinants of health affect health inequities globally? 

3. How has nursing historically analyzed data?  What has been the major focus? 

4. Discuss the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence.

5. One role of the DNP graduate is to evaluate care delivery models.  Identify and briefly discuss a theory/model that may used by the DNP graduate to evaluate car