Nurse Practitioner - United States

United States

While not every state includes specific language requiring a master's degree for NPs, the majority of states do require a master's degree, post-master's certificate or a doctoral degree. Further, the current nurse practitioner programs offered by all universities and colleges are at the master's, post-master's, or doctoral level. The current proposal is that all advanced practice registered nurse programs will require a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree by 2015, thus effectively eliminating the MN or the MSN as an entry to practice degree. However, all state Nursing Boards will be required to revise their current Practice Acts in order for this to become mandatory. All U.S. states require national board certification for nurse practitioners before they are permitted to practice and the two biggest certifying bodies, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), do require applicants to hold a master's degree, post-master's certificate, or doctoral degree to be eligible to test for certification.

The variety of educational paths for NPs is a result of the history of the field. The first Nurse Practitioner program was created by a nurse educator, Loretta Ford, EdD, RN, PNP, and a physician, Henry Silver, MD, in 1965 at the University of Colorado as a non-degree certificate program. This program trained experienced Registered Nurses for their new advanced nursing roles as Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. In the late 1960s into the 1970s, continued predictions of a primary-care physician shortage increased funding and attendance in various certificate-based nurse practitioner programs. Then, during the 1980s Nurse Practitioner educational requirements were transitioned into graduate-level master's degree programs. Subsequently the national certifying organizations and state licencing boards began to require a master's degree for NP practice. However, already established NPs with certificate-based education were grandfathered in. Once again there are changes presently in the field, and by 2015 all new NPs will need to be trained at the doctorate level as a Doctor of Nursing Practice. Once again already established NPs with lesser education will be grandfathered in.

After completing the education program, the candidate must be licensed by the state in which he or she plans to practice. The state boards of nursing regulate nurse practitioners and each state has its own licensing and certification criteria. In general, the criteria include completion of a graduate degree in nursing and board certification by an accrediting body (ANCC, AANP). The license period varies by state; some require biennial relicensing, others require triennial.