In 2004 the American Association of Colleges of Nursing issued a recommendation that the Doctor of Nursing Practice
(DNP) replace the Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN) as the minimum educational requirement for Nurse Practitioners or Advanced Practice RN’s by 2015. As this deadline fast approaches, we wanted to broach the subject here—not to lose our jobs, step on anyone’s toes, or advocate for or against one degree over the other—but because the recommendation affects many of your current and former students, peers, and maybe even you! This handy dandy info-graphic from The University of Maryville’s online MSN program highlights some of the merits of both degrees, whereas the accompanying notes share our takeaways, as well as some of the differences occurring in the past two years since the graphic was released. 
Readers should note that:
- Some state boards have already adopted AACN’s recommendation and plan to grandfather in masters-educated Nurse Practitioners as long as they maintain licensure. However if they relocate to another state or fail to maintain their license, they could be required to take additional coursework to have their license reinstated. Don’t worry—programs are creating MSN NP-to-DNP programs as we speak.
- The graphic states that you need your BSN to become a NP, but that’s not always true. Many programs make exceptions for RN’s with a Bachelors degree in another area and there are more than 170 RN-to-MSN programs in the country for our ADN educated nurses, which will grant them a BSN and MSN upon graduation (and over 30 more programs are in the planning stages, making this an attractive offer for ADN’s looking to advance their knowledge and careers).
- You will need a Master’s degree in order to enter a DNP program, but there are programs with a BSN-to-DNP track where, upon graduation, students are awarded both an MSN and DNP degrees. Alternately, some schools will make provisions for applicants who have a BSN and a master’s degree in another area, such as Education or Healthcare Administration.
- Some schools and states will still offer both MSN and DNP programs—but it’s likely that the MSN degrees offered will have an educational or administrative emphasis. You should check with your prospective schools’ admissions officers and your state board of nursing before enrolling.
- If you opt for any doctoral-level program, you’ll likely have to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and get a competitive score. Before starting your studies (or taking the real test), try taking a Free Practice GRE from Kaplan Test Prep so you’ll get an idea of where you’re starting at and if you need to study for the exam. Remember that Kaplan NCLEX alumni get 10% off of their Kaplan GRE course.
- The August 2012 AACN online survey of baccalaureate and graduate programs found that the average job offer rate at the time of graduation was 57% for new BSN graduates and 73% for entry-level MSN graduates (as opposed to only 25.5% of new grads in disciplines other than nursing. Using this logic, one could infer that a DNP is the way to go for nurses looking to ensure steady employment post graduation.
- One of the many career paths a DNP may choose from includes teaching. The mean salary for full-time nursing professors is $102,399, according to AACN data for the 2012-2013 academic schoolyear. Because you can’t create more registered nurses without having more nurse educators, since the average age of doctorally-prepared nurse educators is 60, and since Deans and Program Directors are typically degreed at the highest educational level possible, if you want to teach on the tenure track, you’d be best suited to plan on eventually obtaining your DNP, Doctor of Education, or a Ph.D. in Nursing.
We hope you enjoyed a few of our updates to this graphic. As always, don’t hesitate to contact your local state board of nursing or prospective graduate schools with questions related to upcoming changes to Nurse Practitioners in your area.
