Nursing is changing.
Today’s nurse leaders are needed to make decisions and identify problems yet to emerge. They are called upon to lead healthcare organizations. And they must demonstrate enhanced knowledge in advanced nursing practice, organizational leadership, economics and finance, healthcare policy and technology.
The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) was specifically designed to prepare nurses to meet these changing demands and improve patient outcomes. But the degree can also offer higher earning potential, career security and more advancement opportunities within nursing. In fact, employers have quickly recognized the unique contributions these expert nurses are making in the clinical and organizational level, and the demand for DNP-prepared nurses continues to grow.
Graduates of a DNP program are prepared to assume a variety of leadership roles and advance to the highest levels of nursing practice. Here’s a list of the most in-demand positions for DNP-prepared graduates today.
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's (AACN) report on 2019-2020 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 80,407 qualified undergraduate and graduate applicants in 2019 simply because there were not enough instructors to teach them, citing faculty shortages as the top reason. Institutions are increasingly seeking to fill these instructor roles with highly-trained DNP-prepared nurses eager to educate the next generation of healthcare professionals.
As a DNP prepared nurse, with a focus on systems-level leadership, you could meet your career goals in an executive or advanced position.
This article was originally published on February 9, 2016 and has been updated for accuracy.