The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP): Need for More Dialogue
response by Jim Guynns on Residency Programs for Primary Care Nurse Practitioners in Federally Qualified Health Centers: A Service Perspective by Margaret Flinter, APRN, MSN (Sept. 30, 2005)
Dear Editor:
I write in response to Margaret Flinter's article on residency programs for primary care Nurse Practitioners. I support a residency program in the path to a nursing doctorate for NP's. A residency could be easily incorporated into the already existing clinical experience required by most MSN-NP programs and would strengthen the NP's case for autonomy and reimbursement more so than would additional preparation in theory and research. I am a Nurse Practitioner (NP) who graduated two years ago, after 30 years of nursing practice in multiple areas. Yet the one experience I missed in graduate school was a true residency, a place to truly hone the skills I had acquired during my academic preparation. I believe a residency program would be especially valuable for those nurses who go directly from a BSN to MSN-NP program. Such a program would allow the new NP to more fully master recently obtained knowledge and skills through working side-by-side with a mentor for a period of one year. To not include a residency in the doctoral preparation of NPs would be to lose an invaluable opportunity to raise the qualifications and status of NPs nationwide, and perhaps worldwide.
Jim Guynns, RN MSN FNP-C
Urgent Care NP
New Mexico
guyjim34@yahoo.com
