Great! http://www.bnd.com/2011/02/12/158844...g-program.html
Soon it may be common to call your nurse "Doctor."
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has established a new doctorate of nursing practices degree, part of a growing trend to advance nursing education in light of the changing role for nurses in the medical field.
Eventually, the doctorate will replace the master's degree, according to Dean Marcia Maurer, but for now it's expected that nurses with a master's degree will be the ones seeking a doctorate.
"The idea was that perhaps we should call it what it's worth, somewhat analogous to the pharmacy doctorate," Maurer said.
While nurses with doctorates previously have been seen mostly in administrative and management roles, Maurer said these degrees are now intended for practicing nurses.
"It's intended to reflect that this individual has received more education and has a greater sophistication in practice and patient care," Maurer said.
It's the wave of the future, with nursing schools that have graduate degrees pursuing doctoral programs more and more. By 2015, all graduate schools are expected to offer the doctorate instead of the master's, Maurer said.
It is a highly clinical degree, common for nurse practitioners, anesthetists and other specialists.
Unlike the doctorate previously available, it is focused on actual practice rather than research.
That was the attraction for Janet Whitworth, a family nurse practitioner with Community Nursing Services in East St. Louis who completed a nursing doctorate in 2009.
"The focus is on preparing these advanced-practice nurses to become leaders and agents for change in the health care system," Whitworth said. "That's really important, especially now with the changes we're seeing in health care."
Much of the change in the nursing profession is coming about because of health care reform, Maurer said. With a greater emphasis on preventive care, the burden that previously fell on primary care physicians will increasingly fall on nurse practitioners -- particularly with lower numbers of men and women going into primary care.
"There is a lot more emphasis on illness prevention in primary care," Maurer said. "I think what we'll be seeing is a greater role for the nurse practitioner."
Currently, one can take the registered-nurse certification with two years of classes, though most push on for the four-year bachelor's degree in nursing.
"The four-year baccalaureate nurses are much more well-rounded individuals and more well-suited for management and leadership activities in hospitals," said Kathy Ketchum, associate dean for the graduate nursing program.
Maurer said there is a push to make the bachelor's degree the standard entry level for the profession by 2020, though it's unclear whether that will actually happen.
"But we're already looking at how we can be seamless with students starting at a community college," Maurer said.
Regardless of whether the student takes the two-year associate's degree path or the four-year bachelor's degree, they take the same licensing exam.
Whitworth said the nurses who pursue a doctorate will be best-prepared for their expanded roles.
"I'm a big proponent of lifelong learning, so being able to go back for my doctorate and enhance the skills I had gained through my masters program and having that preparation to allow me to become a leader within the health-care system was the real reason for it," Whitworth said.
Meanwhile, there continues to be a shortage of nurses. Each hospital in the bi-state area has dozens of registered nursing jobs available, despite the sharp increase in students entering nursing school. SIUE has seen enrollment nearly double, from 450 students in 2003 to 854 students in 2010.
They're drawn by the salary, job security and flexibility of the nursing profession, Maurer said, and it's a frequent choice for second careers, particularly in the current economy. One recent graduate went back for his bachelor's degree in nursing after years as an insurance agent, Maurer said.
"Sometimes it's veterans returning from the war finding that their experiences make nursing attractive to them," Maurer said. "We are seeing more men going into nursing ... and nurses can be very mobile, can move from (obstetrics) to neonatal without having to go back to school."
Recently, the Carbondale campus opened a regional nursing program that is actually a satellite program of Edwardsville's system, rather than spend the years required to bring a new program into being. It opened last academic year and registers about 40 students a year, Maurer said.
