Nurse practitioner program enrollment trends and predictions

Abstract

Background: As the fastest growing segment of the healthcare workforce, understanding NP enrollment is vital.

Purpose: This work aimed to guide healthcare workforce forethought, academic planning, and policy initiatives.

Method: This secondary data analysis investigated nurse practitioner (NP) program enrollment trends from 2013 to 2022, including sub-analyses of master's versus doctoral enrollment, clinical tracks (acute care, primary care, psychiatric mental health), and enrollment status (part-time vs. full-time). An autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) projection modeling is used to forecast enrollment for four years, 2023-2026.

Results: CONCLUSION: Increased enrollments in doctoral NP programs, visible in DNP NP program and enrollment growth, may offer advantages for the healthcare workforce. Part-time enrollment prevalence requires attention in workforce planning due to the potential for extended graduation timelines. These findings hopefully will lead to an effective healthcare response to meet the demand for high-quality care in a changing landscape.

Keywords: Enrollment; Mental health; Nurse practitioner; Primary care; Workforce.