Education news. Is doctoral education in our future?

Setting education standards has been a priority for nurse anesthetists since 1931 when all programs were located in hospitals. By 1998, accreditation standards required that all nurse anesthesia programs be university based or university affiliated and offer master's degrees. Although the feasibility of doctoral education has been discussed in the past, there is renewed interest in this issue stemming from an initiative of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to promote the doctorate of nursing practice (DNP) degree for education of advanced practice nurses. The Task Force for the Doctoral Preparation of Nurse Anesthetists, appointed by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) Board of Directors, has been charged with developing recommendations to be considered by the Board about courses of action the AANA should take relative to doctoral education. This column presents historical upgrades in educational requirements for nurse anesthetists and the objectives of the Task Force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]