Enlightenment for Future Nursing Education from Evaluating Perception of Competencies of Doctor of Nursing Practice Programs

Abstract

Lack of research still exists about how Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) prepared nurses meet the AACN Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice. The goal of this study was to examine the perception of DNP prepared nurses and employers on how they met the AACN Essentials. Self-reported data was collected from a convenience sample of DNP prepared nurses and employers across the U.S. (n=202) through an electronic survey assessment. Overall, the participants perceived that the DNP prepared nurses were meeting the competencies with all Essentials receiving a mean score above 4 (agree). The lowest mean score (4.289) was rated for Essential Ⅶ (Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving the Nation’s Health). Two other low mean scores were 4.310 for Essential V (health care policy for advocacy in health care) and 4.360 for Essential IV (information systems/technology and patient-care technology for the improvement and transformation of health care). The perception that DNP prepared nurses rated for Essential III (4.49 ±.68, p =.026), VI (4.48 ±.84, p =.017), and the total Essentials (4.43 ±.67, p =.023), and other employers rated for Essential VI (4.02 ± 1.17, p =.042) were statistically significantly lower compared to those working as a DNP prepared nurse and an employer at the same time. The findings of this study have a number of important insights into the value of DNP prepared nurses for the future development of DNP programs in the U.S and the future initiation in other countries.