Reflective Essay on Doctor of Nursing Practice: A Comprehensive View

This reflective essay explores the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, its historical context, current state, and implications for nursing practice. The essay highlights the DNP's focus on clinical leadership, evidence-based practice, and quality improvement, distinguishing it from research-focused doctoral programs. It reflects on the growing number of DNP programs and the increasing demand for DNP-prepared nurses in various healthcare sectors. The author discusses the value of the DNP in enhancing clinical excellence, leading transformative changes in public health, and providing a broader scope of practice. Ultimately, the essay underscores the DNP's significance for nurses seeking advanced clinical expertise and leadership roles, aligning with the author's personal career aspirations and professional development goals.

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON DOCTOR OF NURSING PRACTICE
Reflective Essay on Doctor of Nursing Practice
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON DOCTOR OF NURSING PRACTICE
Introduction:
The profession of nursing is expanding rapidly and along with the innovative
infrastructural improvements, the academic degrees for qualification for the nurses is
expanding rapidly as well. There are various educational advancements occurring in the
nursing curriculum, with each of the degrees having specific roles and attributes in the
clinical practice. In this reflective essay, I would attempt to discuss the implications for
Doctor of Nursing Practice for the nurses taking the assistance of 5 high quality research
evidences.
Discussion:
As discussed by Newland (2015), DNP refers to the Doctor of Nursing practice
degree, designed specifically to prepare the nurses to become experts in the nursing practice.
It has to be mentioned that the DNP is considered as the pinnacle of clinical practice as an
extremely focussed nursing degree that builds upon the master’s program in nursing. The
authors describe DNP to be a curriculum that provides the nurses with educational foundation
which focuses intricately on the quality improvement, evidence based practice, systems
thinking and effective leadership. With respect to the history of the degree, as discussed by
Carollo and Mason (2017), in the year of 2004, the American Association of Colleges of
Nursing (AACN), declared and endorsed “Position Statement on the Practice Doctorate
in Nursing”. This had been the first step towards the establishment of this degree, and
gradually, all the related nursing education authorities and organizations voted for the
educational level to transition from a master’s degree to a doctor of nursing practice. Within
the year of 2015, the DNP became the terminal degree in the USA for nursing education for
all advanced practice registered nurses.
The current state of the academic degree is growing rapidly; as discussed by Redman
et al. (2015), the number of nursing schools and institutions that are providing DNP

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REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON DOCTOR OF NURSING PRACTICE
graduation opportunities is growing with each passing day. In the year of 2016, the total
number of DNP programs all across the nation had been 289, which estimates the total
number of probable DNP graduates to be 22000. Hence, it can be stated that at the current
state, the degree is growing rapidly and with AACN guiding the competencies and
curriculum for the degree, it is set to hold the position of the terminal educational
qualification for nurses in the nursing field, providing ultimate scope of practice. The value of
the degree is optimal in clinical practice, as discussed by Nichols, O’Connor and Dunn
(2014), unlike the PhD, DNP is clinical practice focused rather than being completely
research focused. DNP prepares nurses to be highest level of advanced practitioner, so that
along with providing optimal clinical assistance, the DNP nurses can also become clinical
leaders as well. As discussed by Tyczkowski and Reilly (2017), the DNP prepared advanced
practice nurses can lead transformation across all sectors of public health, including policy
development, financial astuteness, informatics, patient-centered care, quality improvement,
safety, and inter-professional teamwork and collaboration.
Reflection and conclusion:
Lastly, reflecting on the position of the DNP, there are major benefits of the DNP
program, including Scholarship in the practice setting Innovation and testing of care delivery
models, Practice improvement, Examination of healthcare outcomes, and Proficiency in
establishing clinical excellence. It has to be mentioned that the DNPs earn higher salaries and
have much broader scope of practice for the nurses having DNP. As I attempt to have the
practice scope for having the terminal qualification and become a clinical leader myself, in
the future, I believe that the degree would be of extreme importance to my career path and
my professional development.

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REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON DOCTOR OF NURSING PRACTICE
References:
Carollo, S., PhD, FNP-BC, & Mason, A., DNP, PMHNP-BC. (2017). Doctor of nursing
practice curricula redesign: Challenge, change and collaboration. The Journal for
Nurse Practitioners, 13(4), 183.
Newland, J. (2015). The doctor of nursing practice: A focus on clinical leadership. The Nurse
Practitioner, 40(4), 13-13.
Nichols, C., O’Connor, N., & Dunn, D. (2014). Exploring early and future use of DNP
prepared nurses within healthcare organizations. Journal of Nursing
Administration, 44(2), 74-78.
Redman, R. W., Pressler, S. J., Furspan, P., & Potempa, K. (2015). Nurses in the United
States with a practice doctorate: Implications for leading in the current context of
health care. Nursing outlook, 63(2), 124-129.
Tyczkowski, B. L., & Reilly, J. (2017). DNP-prepared nurse leaders: part of the solution to
the growing faculty shortage. Journal of Nursing Administration, 47(7/8), 359-360.