Advanced Education And Skills Critical For Today's Nurses

As the need for more nurses grows more critical each year

, so does the need for those nurses to have an advanced nursing degree, such as the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has stated that it expects that the number of Registered Nurses (RNs) will grow by 22.2 percent by 2018. This growth -- which will translate into more than 581,000 jobs -- is the greatest of any other occupation.

Nurses of today and tomorrow will need to have high critical thinking skills. Nurses with a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree will have such skills, and many more.

In addition, as older nurses retire in the next few years, the number of nurses needed to replace them also will increase. Nurses who earn advanced practice degrees such as the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or the DNP will be in demand as experienced nurses retire and take their knowledge and expertise with them.

An aging population as well as health care reform, soon will have people who didn't see health care providers because they couldn't afford them coming to doctors and advanced practice nurses for primary and preventative health care.

Which means opportunities for nurses who pursue advanced practice degrees such as the Doctor of Nursing Practice is going to explode. Nurses with a DNP degree will be able to fill much-needed positions as nurse managers, clinical nurse specialists, educators (training others to become nurses), and many other critical positions.

Patient safety and the quality of patient care and oversight also will be provided by nurses with advanced degrees. DNP nurses, for example, will be able to set and oversee patient care policy at hospitals and clinics. They will find themselves working as hospital administrators, as well as nursing division leaders and patient care advocates.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) believes more DNP nurses are critical to the health of the health care industry in this country and has been a huge advocate of such programs. A survey in early 2010 found that the number of Doctor of Nursing Practice programs increased by 20 percent in 2009, the AACN reports.

Twenty-eight new Doctor of Nursing Practice programs opened in 2009, according to the AACN, bringing the total number to 120. The AACN also reported that its survey found that nursing colleges and universities have an additional 161 DNP programs in the planning stages.

by: Jean Henshaw

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