Doctor of Nursing Practice

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is a professional degree in nursing in the United States of America.

In the United States, the DNP is one of three doctorate degrees in nursing, the other two being the research degree PhD and the Doctor of Nursing Science. The DNP program may include clinical/residency hours, in some cases as many as 500 hours, as well as a final project which is usually a clinical practice research project which is often implemented through direct clinical nursing care.

International Perspective

Internationally, since the 1990s, there have been a number of doctorate level degrees available for nurses, including Doctor of Professional Studies (DProf), PhDs and others. All such doctoral nursing degrees outside of North America usually include mandatory research elements and take longer than a single year to complete. The DNP is also unique in that it is significantly shorter at one years duration than a standard doctoral degree anywhere in the world (e.g. 3-5 years in Europe or 4-6 years in the USA). In areas of the world other than North America, nurses complete standard doctoral degrees of the same length as other healthcare professions, academics and researchers. There is no short course doctorate equivalent to the DNP in Europe or elsewhere in the world.