From the Shorthorn: The Shorthorn - New nursing doctorate offered

Following approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board late last week, the UTA’s School of Nursing became one of a handful of institutions authorized to offer a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.

The degree is an “emerging” postgraduate nursing program that typically requires three years of full-time study.

The program prepares graduates for leadership roles in clinical, research and management settings, according to the School of Nursing’s Web site. Those pursuing the degree must take an additional 45 credit hours beyond what is required for a master’s degree and complete 540 clinical practice hours.

Provost Donald Bobbitt said that adding the new degree path wasn’t something the university undertook just because students might be interested.

“We’re not interested in creating a broad spectrum of degrees,” Bobbitt said. “If we’re going to add a new degree, it has to draw on strengths the university already has, and it has to serve an immediate need.”

He said the Doctor of Nursing Practice program met that criteria because the program built on the demonstrated strength of the university’s nursing program and filled what officials perceived to be a statewide need for DNP graduates.

“I think graduates are probably going to be employed immediately,” Bobbitt said. “With UT-Southwestern and all the other hospitals, it’s a hotbed. Graduates probably wouldn’t even have to leave the area unless they wanted to.”

Because the program has only recently been created, many details won’t be known until further research is done, nursing dean Elizabeth Poster said.

“I will say we’re delighted to be one of five schools of nursing in Texas to be offering the DNP,” she said.