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Nursing leaders are essential in promoting the doctor of nursing practice (DNP)-prepared nurse in various innovative roles (Nichols, O'Connor, & Dunn, 2014). However, according to the recently released RAND study, The DNP by 2015: A Study of the Institutional, Political, and Professional Issues That Facilitate or Impede Establishing a Post-Baccalaureate Doctor of Nursing Practice Program (Auerbach et al., 2014) employers and health care organizations need outreach and data to understand the added competencies and capabilities of DNP-educated nurses. Practicing DNPs are in an excellent position to demonstrate and educate our executive colleagues. The purpose of this article is (a) to foster nursing leadership's understanding of the uniquely prepared nursing practice doctorate, (b) to illustrate how the DNP-prepared nurse is being integrated/used to their potential within health care systems to maximize clinical and population health outcomes, and (c) to issue a call to action for nursing leadership to engage the DNP-prepared nurse to accomplish organizational goals.
Keywords: doctor of nursing practice (DNP); practice doctorate; advanced practice roles; doctor of nursing practice model
The Practice-Focused Doctorate in Nursing
Health care is in the midst of radical change. With increasing demands of integrating evidence-based care, improving safety of patients and demonstrating patient and population outcomes, the nursing profession has responded to the Institute of Medicine's (2003) call for preparation of health professionals with an expanded skillset to meet these challenges. The goal of the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree, is to produce competent advanced practice providers and senior leaders in organizations to improve the quality of care to patients and their families and improve the overall health care delivery system (Milone-Nuzzo, 2013). As the number of DNP graduates grows, the impact of the practice doctorate on the nursing profession and in health care is beginning to emerge.
The Actualized Doctor of Nursing Practice Model
The impact of the DNP-prepared nurse on individuals, populations, systems, and policy can be illustrated by exploring how (a) a unique skillset is developed through acquisition of advanced practice knowledge, (b) how knowledge is applied to existing and new nursing roles, which leads to the (c) achievement of desired health care outcomes. The actualized DNP model is illustrated in Figure 1.
Advanced Nursing Knowledge
The initial feature of the actualized DNP...