Columbia University School of Nursing Will Offer Nurses the New Program Beginning This Fall
06/10/2008
Columbia University School of Nursing announced that its new program has been successfully registered by New York State. The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program received unanimous approval by Columbia University Academic Senate in February, and this was the final step in the review process for transitioning the DNSc program to the PhD in Nursing. The first class of PhD students will enter in Fall 2008.
The DNP program will offer a clinically focused curriculum to prepare expert practitioners. The degree represents the highest academic preparation in clinical nursing. Graduates of the DNP program will be advanced practice nurses with the knowledge and skills for fully accountable expert care to patients across all care settings. The clinical doctorate can be conferred in conjunction with any specialty in advanced nursing practice.
The PhD in Nursing program offers a research-intensive curriculum to prepare nurse-investigators who are ready to begin to conduct research on nursing problems, outcomes and health policy independently and as leaders of interdisciplinary teams. Graduates of the PhD program will have the investigative skills necessary to extend clinical nursing knowledge through innovation and discovery.
They will be trained in health policy principles to work collaboratively with other professionals and advocacy groups to improve the health care system. Specifically, nurse-scientist graduates will be prepared to begin to:
>>Design, conduct, direct and report research studies that increase knowledge about the outcomes of nursing and other clinical practice. >>Translate the evidence accumulated through research into practice >>Develop and carry out innovative and informed health policies for improved organization and delivery of health services
The PhD courses are in three major clusters: 1) theoretical foundations of nursing science 2) analytical foundations of nursing science 3) elective and application courses closely mentored by faculty through which the student develops specialized research expertise.
The school describes the difference between DNP and PhD by the following definitions:
The PhD degree is a research doctorate that requires a dissertation and that prepares graduates to function as beginning nurse-investigators and scholars, with the goal of building a program of research as independent nurse-scientists involved in the discovery and refinement of nursing knowledge.
The DNP degree is a clinical doctorate that prepares the graduate to practice independently with the most complex patients, in any setting, utilizing complicated informatics and evidence-based decision-making skills. The degree requires a DNP portfolio that is of equal detail and compelling evidence as a research dissertation.
The DNP is the highest degree for nurse-clinicians and prepares them to practice fully accountable care for patients across settings and over time.
According to an article written by Myrle Croasdale, an AMNews staffer, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians said they support advances in nursing education but emphasized that nurses should operate as part of a healthcare team under physician supervision. AMA Board of Trustees Secretary, William A. Hazel Jr., MD, said there are important distinctions between DNPs and physicians that the public should understand.
"I do not want to be construed as attacking nurses, but there are concerns," Hazel told the reporter. "There's a difference in training that should not be overlooked."
Richard Hawkins, MD, NBME, vice president for assessment programs, said the test will be based on Step 3 of the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam, the last level in the test series.
Also, the article reports that about 75 graduates qualify to take the DNP certification test. Once nursing schools finish their program expansions, she expects there will be at least 2,000 DNPs graduating each year. Candidates must first complete a master's-level nurse practitioner degree before they begin a DNP program.
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