Nurse practitioner program enrollment trends and predictions

Background

As the fastest growing segment of the healthcare workforce, understanding NP enrollment is vital.

Purpose

This work aimed to guide healthcare workforce forethought, academic planning, and policy initiatives.

Method

This secondary data analysis investigated nurse practitioner (NP) program enrollment trends from 2013 to 2022, including sub-analyses of master's versus doctoral enrollment, clinical tracks (acute care, primary care, psychiatric mental health), and enrollment status (part-time vs. full-time). An autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) projection modeling is used to forecast enrollment for four years, 2023–2026.

Results

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  A shift toward Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) NP program availability and adoption.
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  Part-time NP student enrollment is the preferred enrollment status across NP tracks through 2026.
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  Robust growth demonstrated and predicted in psychiatric mental health NP programs.
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  An expectation that acute care enrollment will recover post-pandemic, while primary care faces a more complex trajectory.

Conclusion

Increased enrollments in doctoral NP programs, visible in DNP NP program and enrollment growth, may offer advantages for the healthcare workforce. Part-time enrollment prevalence requires attention in workforce planning due to the potential for extended graduation timelines. These findings hopefully will lead to an effective healthcare response to meet the demand for high-quality care in a changing landscape.