The doctor of nursing practice is a practice doctorate: a terminal degree oriented toward applying evidence in clinical and organizational settings rather than generating it. It sits alongside the research doctorate rather than below it.
DNP against PhD
The clearest distinction is what each produces at the end.
A DNP culminates in a scholarly project applying existing evidence to a practice problem — implementing a protocol, changing a process, measuring the result. Graduates go into advanced clinical practice, executive leadership, quality, and increasingly faculty roles.
A PhD culminates in original research producing new generalizable knowledge, and prepares nurse scientists and research faculty. See PhD in nursing and nursing research.
Both are doctorates and both carry the title. The difference is the work, not the rank.
Where the doctorate is genuinely required
Nurse anesthesia. Every student entering a programme accredited by the Council on Accreditation since 2022 must enrol in a doctoral programme, and by 2025 all accredited programmes award a doctorate — either a DNP or a doctor of nurse anesthesia practice. Nurse anesthetists certified under the earlier master's standard were not required to return. See certified registered nurse anesthetists.
That is the whole list of roles where it is mandatory.
The 2025 target that was never law
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing took the position in 2004 that advanced practice preparation should move to the doctorate, and the organization representing nurse practitioner faculty set 2025 as the target date, reaffirming it as recently as 2023.
Neither is a legal requirement. No state board of nursing requires a doctorate for advanced practice licensure, master's-prepared nurse practitioners continue to be certified and licensed, and the date passed without regulatory effect.
What did change is supply. Many universities converted their advanced practice programmes to the doctorate regardless, so for some specialties and some schools the doctorate is now the only offering. A prospective student is choosing between programmes rather than between credentials. See master's degrees in nursing and nurse practitioners.
Who it is actually for
Advanced practice nurses, either entering through a post-bachelor's DNP that includes the population-focused clinical preparation, or completing a post-master's DNP after already practising.
Executive leadership. Chief nursing officers and system nurse executives increasingly hold one, and the leadership-focused DNP is built for that. See nursing management and leadership.
Quality, informatics, and practice improvement roles, where the project work maps directly onto the job. See quality nursing.
Faculty, particularly for clinical teaching. Doctoral preparation of any kind widens what a school can employ someone to teach, and DNP-prepared faculty now make up a substantial share of clinical instruction. See the nurse faculty shortage.
The economics
DNP programmes turned away 9,859 qualified applications in 2025, second only to entry-level bachelor's programmes in absolute terms — so places are competitive.
The financial case is honest only when stated per role. For nurse anesthesia it is not a choice. For a nurse practitioner already certified and practising, a post-master's DNP rarely produces a pay increase by itself, and most people who do it are aiming at leadership, faculty, or a personal goal rather than a differential. For an executive track it is closer to a credential the market expects.
Employer tuition support and loan repayment programmes are the usual funding, and both are worth investigating before enrolling. See nursing scholarships and loan repayment.
Related
- Nursing education
- Master's degrees in nursing
- PhD in nursing
- Nurse practitioners
- Certified registered nurse anesthetists
Sources
- Fact Sheet: The Doctor of Nursing Practice — American Association of Colleges of Nursing, on the 2004 position and the degree's purpose. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- Entry to Nurse Practitioner Practice by 2025 — National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, April 2023. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- Requirements to Practice as a Nurse Anesthetist in the United States — Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- Schools of Nursing See Enrollment Increases Across Most Program Levels — American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2025–2026 annual survey. Accessed September 9, 2026.