The Practice Doctorate: Perspectives of Early Adopters

The emergence of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree is being described as a disruptive innovation that is altering the landscape of nursing and health care and creating a great deal of controversy within and beyond the profession of nursing. This article proposes that the DNP is actually the natural evolution of a larger disruptive in novation begun in the late 1960s with the advent of nurse practitioner programs. As expected with disruptive innovations, many challenges face those who are early adopt ers and who forge ahead during the early phase of innova tion and later during the upmarketing phase. As faculty and administrators of one of the early, second-generation DNP programs, the authors are fully aware of ongoing dis cussion and issues related to the practice doctorate. This article shares the experiences of this group of early adopt ers and their insights into controversies surrounding the DNP movement.