If you are a nurse who has gained a higher degree in nursing (MSN or master of science in nursing) and you are looking to be a true frontrunner in the field of nursing profession, you might want to take into consideration fostering your education by enrolling to a nursing doctoral program (also termed as the DNP program or the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program).

Just so you know, the United States of America is encountering a serious shortage of nurses. According to the July/August 2009 issue of the periodical "Health Affairs," the United States will need more than 256,000 RN (registered nurses) by 2025. In addition, more than 135,000 registered nurse posts were going unoccupied, according to the two studies that was conducted by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 2007.

Doctor of Nursing Practice Program or DNP program is a developing doctoral program that generally requires three years of full time education. This particular doctoral program train graduates for leadership posts in the field of system management, patient outcomes, clinical care delivery and research. Listed below are three benefits why you should enroll in a Doctor of Nursing Practice Program or DNP program:

1. Pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice Program or DNP program will permit you to help lessen The shortage in nursing.

One of the many explanations for the shortage of registered nurses is a real scarcity of nursing faculty. Nursing students cannot be educated as nurses without the help of nursing teachers. According to the report that was spearheaded by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 2009, nursing programs turned downed more than 49,000 nursing students from graduate nursing and bachelor’s degree programs. The main reason for this is that the lack of nursing teachers or faculty members. If you pursue a Doctor of Nursing Practice Program or DNP program, it will permit you to become a faculty member or nursing teacher at a nursing program or college.

2. Students graduating from a Doctor of Nursing Practice Program or DNP program will have the expertise, skills and knowledge to become frontrunners in the field of public health arena.

After you obtained your DNP degree, you will be able to integrate your policy, clinical and organizational expertise to improve the care patients who are being received in hospices, assisted living facilities, clinics and hospitals. Your acquired expertise will be of great help wherever your occupation takes you, perhaps even in the halls of health care policy makers or into the government.

Most of the DNP programs can be found on the Internet. This allows you to have the opportunity to be trained for a higher nursing degree without leaving your work. You can also study your DNP program at your convenient time.

3. Your personal rank as a nursing expert will grow significantly.

Several health care careers like dentistry, psychology, physical therapy, pharmacy, and others have already progressed to a practice doctorate degree in order for the entry into their expertise. In fact, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) stated in an April 2009 "fact sheet" that these professions need DPN nurses because lack of nurses requires an advanced level of training for health frontrunners who can assess and design care.

Be a part of a solution for the nursing and obtain a degree in Doctor of Nursing Practice Program or DNP program.