Community Health / Public Health Nursing and the Doctor of Nursing Practice

Carolyn A. Williams, RN, PhD, FAAN Dean and Professor, College of Nursing, University of Kentucky

Focus of the Presentation

The Momentum for Change in Graduate Education in Nursing The DNP as the Preparation for Specialization in Nursing by 2015 Good News/Not So Good News The DNP May Represent a Window of Opportunity to Revitalize the Preparation for Specialization in Community Health / Public Health Nursing

A Paradigm Shift is Underway in Graduate Education in Nursing

A Number of Factors are Converging to Build Momentum for a Major set of Shifts These Include: Aging of the Population; Expansion of Knowledge Underlying Practice; Increased Complexity of Patient Care; Major Concerns about Quality of Care and Patient Safety; Shortages of Nursing Personnel Demanding a Higher Level of Preparation for Leaders Who Can Design and Assess Care and Lead; Shortages of Prepared Nursing Faculty, Leaders in Practice, and Nurse Researchers, and Increasing Educational Expectations for the Preparation of other Health Professionals

Ferment and Change in Graduate Education

From the Clinical Perspective - The Clinical Nurse Leader at the Masters Level; For Specialization The Doctor of Nursing Practice From the Research Perspective Proposed Strategies to Encourage Nurses to Enter Doctoral Study at Younger Ages; Rethink the Clinical Requirements for Entry into PhD Programs; Expand the Pool for PhD Programs in Nursing and Increase the Number of PhD Grads

National Academy of Sciences 2005 Report

Calls for a distinction between the educational needs and goals of nursing as a practice profession that require practitioners with clinical expertise from Nursing as an academic discipline and science that requires independent researchers and scientists to build the body of knowledge (p.74)

National Academy of Sciences 2005 Report

The need for doctorally prepared practitioners and clinical faculty would be met if nursing could develop a new nonresearch clinical doctorate, similar to the M.D. and Pharm.D. in medicine and pharmacy, respectively.

What is a DNP?
The DNP was first conceptualized as a Post-Masters degree to prepare for Leadership in Nursing Practice As we plan for the future, it is proposed as the preparation for the highest level of preparation for practice in an area of specialization.

It is about Nursing Practice!!! It is About the Future !!!

Position Statement on the Practice Doctorate in Nursing

October 2004

Possible Parallels Between the Nurse Practitioner Movement and the DNP
Most would say that What Lee Ford Set in Motion in the 1960s was a Major Paradigm Shift in Graduate Education in Nursing and in Nursing Practice Only Time will tell if the DNP Represents a Sustained Change in Graduate Education in Nursing and in Nursing Practice

From Chalk Up Another One, The Best of Sydney Harris, 1992

The DNP Essentials

DNP Core Essentials Outcome Competencies Essential for all Graduates of a DNP Program Regardless of Speciality or Functional Focus Speciality Competneices Those Clinical and Didactic Learning Experiences to Prepare the DNP for a Particular Speciality. These are Delineated by National Speciality Nursing Organizations

DNP Core Essentials

l. Scientific Underpinnings for Practice 2. Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking a focus on the needs of a panel of pts, a target pop, a set of pops, or a broad community 3. Clinical Scholarship and Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice 4. Information Systems/Technology and Patient Care Technology for the Improvement and Transformation of Health Care

Core Essentials
5. Health Care Policy for Advocacy in Health Care 6. Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and POPULATION Health Outcomes 7. Clinical Prevention and POPULATION Health for Improving the Nations Health 8. Advanced Nursing Practice

Advanced Nursing Practice

Speciality preparation falls into two general categories: Roles which specialize as an APN with a focus on care of inds in a speciality and Roles which specialize in practice at an aggregate, systems, or organizational level Some Specialities, such as Community Health may blend these roles

AACN Website for DNP

www.aacn.nche.edu/dnp/index.htm

Good News / Not so Good News

The Population Perspective is Catching on Throughout Nursing It is one of the Key Components of the Essentials for the DNP The Not so Good News is what is happening in Community/Public Health Nursing Programs There is a Question of whether our Current CH/PHN Programs are Sustainable

AVERAGE GRADUATES PER PROGRAM FROM COMMUNITY HEALTH/PUBLIC HEALTH MASTERS LEVEL PROGRAMS IN SCHOOLS OF NURSING 2001-2005

2001
Community Health CNS 2.1

2002
3.2

2003
3.0

2004
3.3

2005
3.3

Community Health/Public Health Masters Major

3.3

3.9

2.6

2.8

2.8

Source: American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Research and Data Center, 2006

ENROLLMENT IN CHN/PH MASTERS PROGRAMS AND % OF TOTAL MASTERS ENROLLMENT

CHN/PH ENROLLMENT
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 910 1011 941 974 946

TOTAL ENROLLMENT
30,512 34,062 37,066 42,646 46,444

% of TOTAL
3.7 2.9 2.5 2.3 2.0

Source: American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Research and Data Center, 2006

A Window of Opportunity
The Time to Rethink the Preparation of Nurses for Community/Public Health Practice is NOW The DNP may Represent a Window of Opportunity to Revitalize Preparation for Community/Public Health Nursing The DNP with Specialization in Community/Public Health Nursing is a More Viable Alternative for the Future than a Dual Degree Model, Which Many are Advocating

Luther Christman:
Imagine how different the present level of clinical care might be if all nurses had earned professional doctorates for at least the last two generations. It is almost impossible to be an equal contributor when the present relative deprivation exists between nurses and other major providers.
Source: (Image: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 1980)

Creating the Future

We have a responsibility to create the future for our patients, for our profession, and for the health of the public.