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Keeping up with the times by Shawn Ryan
T
o comply with a shift in the profession, the Master of Science in Nursing Practice is being eliminated in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Nursing. Starting in January 2022, students who wish to become an advanced practice registered nurse must enroll in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program to pursue a graduate degree in nurse anesthesia, adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner or family nurse practitioner. Students with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) will directly enter the DNP program for those three concentrations. Students currently pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) will be able to finish the program and earn their degree. The final class of those students will graduate in 2023. The decision to eliminate master's level programs is happening in nursing schools nationwide. Currently, nine universities in Tennessee offer MSN to DNP degrees and 11 have BSN to DNP programs. "For probably the last 10 years, there has been a push to make the doctorate as entry-
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level for advanced practice roles. This has really picked up steam in the last five years," says Amber Roaché, coordinator of the Nurse Practitioner program in the School of Nursing. "So it was kind of looking at the big picture and saying, 'OK, if these others are saying the doctorate should be entry-level, then we need to move there as well.'" Making the Doctor of Nursing Practice the entry-level program meets new accreditation requirements from the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties as well as the requirements of Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs. The change covers all advanced practice concentrations in the Nurse Practitioner program at UTC. "Nurses who will graduate from our DNP will still sit for their certification exam and be certified registered nurse anesthetists or CRNAs," says Linda Hill, coordinator for Nurse Anesthetists. "They will still qualify to get their advanced practice nursing license from state boards of nursing, whether it's Tennessee, Mississippi or wherever they go
