{"title":"Harmonizing excellence: Crafting the nexus of competencies, standards, and degree demands in nurse practitioner education","authors":"Lorna Finnegan PhD, FNP, FAAN , Susan Kelly-Weeder PhD, FNP-BC, FAAN , Bimbola F. Akintade PhD, ACNP-BC, FAAN , J. Dwayne Hooks PhD, FAANP, FAAN , Shannon Reedy Idzik DNP, ANP-BC, FAAN , Marcy Ainslie EdD, APRN, FNP-BC","doi":"10.1016/j.outlook.2025.102348","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nurse practitioner (NP) programs have a long history of producing safe and competent NPs; however, bold, transformative leadership is needed to set a minimum standard for quality NP education to support a 21st-century healthcare system. This paper is a call to action for leaders in NP education to transition NP education to the DNP degree utilizing the 2022 <em>National Task Force Standards for Quality NP Education</em> and a competency-based approach as defined in the 2021 AACN <em>Essentials</em>. There is now an opportunity to redesign healthcare systems with quality and equity as a primary consideration and DNP-prepared NPs are positioned to lead this redesign. The 2022 NTF Standards include several critical changes in clinical hours, oversight of clinical sites, and preparation of NP students to enter clinical sites. By emphasizing competency attainment within NP programs, the 2021 AACN <em>Essentials</em> ensure that NP graduates are practice-ready.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54705,"journal":{"name":"Nursing Outlook","volume":"73 2","pages":"Article 102348"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nursing Outlook","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029655425000016","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"NURSING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Nurse practitioner (NP) programs have a long history of producing safe and competent NPs; however, bold, transformative leadership is needed to set a minimum standard for quality NP education to support a 21st-century healthcare system. This paper is a call to action for leaders in NP education to transition NP education to the DNP degree utilizing the 2022 National Task Force Standards for Quality NP Education and a competency-based approach as defined in the 2021 AACN Essentials. There is now an opportunity to redesign healthcare systems with quality and equity as a primary consideration and DNP-prepared NPs are positioned to lead this redesign. The 2022 NTF Standards include several critical changes in clinical hours, oversight of clinical sites, and preparation of NP students to enter clinical sites. By emphasizing competency attainment within NP programs, the 2021 AACN Essentials ensure that NP graduates are practice-ready.
期刊介绍:
Nursing Outlook, a bimonthly journal, provides innovative ideas for nursing leaders through peer-reviewed articles and timely reports. Each issue examines current issues and trends in nursing practice, education, and research, offering progressive solutions to the challenges facing the profession. Nursing Outlook is the official journal of the American Academy of Nursing and the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science and supports their mission to serve the public and the nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. The journal is included in MEDLINE, CINAHL and the Journal Citation Reports published by Clarivate Analytics.