Doctor of Nursing Practice

Cal State Fullerton is planning one of three California State University doctor of nursing practice (DNP) pilot programs that could launch as early as fall 2012.

The CSU Board of Trustees, on Wednesday, Jan. 26, approved the planning of the pilot programs. One will be offered jointly by the Fullerton, Long Beach and Los Angeles campuses, another will be offered jointly by Fresno and San Jose and the third will be offered by San Diego.

“It’s a real honor and a tribute to our School of Nursing that Fullerton was selected as one of the campuses in the CSU to offer the DNP,” said Roberta E. Rikli, emeritus dean of the College of Health and Human Development. “Per nursing accreditation standards, all nurses in the advanced practice fields — nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists and nurse midwives — will have to have the doctorate degree in order to become licensed to practice by as early as 2015.

“This is mainly due to the expanded, more advanced role that nurses are playing in providing health care, a situation that is expected to increase over upcoming years in response to health care reform and to the need for more care for more people, especially the huge population of aging baby boomers,” Rikli added. “Therefore, being able to offer the doctorate degree is important not only for our students’ career success, but also for meeting the health care needs in our community.”

Four months ago, California adopted AB-867, allowing the CSU to offer the DNP degree.

“The DNP is a professional practice degree, similar to that obtained by physicians, pharmacists and other practitioners,” said Cindy Smith Greenberg, professor and director of Cal State Fullerton’s School of Nursing. “In this age of expanding health care knowledge, the DNP prepares nurses for work in increasingly complex health care systems. To improve health care outcomes, the evidence generated by research must be translated into clinical practice…. The DNP prepares practitioners to evaluate the available scientific evidence and use it in clinical practice to provide best practice interventions ultimately improving the quality and safety of health care.”

Students who obtain the degree would be qualified to work as nursing faculty members at CSU and community college nursing programs, thus helping to curb the nation's nursing shortage, which is projected to reach 800,000 by 2020.

At present, the nationwide shortage of nurses is estimated to be 150,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Health Professions. In California, which ranks in the bottom five states for registered nurses per capita, the shortage is estimated to be as high as 50,000 by 2015.

Jan. 27, 2011