CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Certification Corporation (NCC) is pleased to announce the availability of the recent article, "Nurse practitioner program director survey: Direct patient care clinical hours and DNP degree". Published in the Journal of Nursing Regulation through ScienceDirect, you can enjoy complimentary access to this article with no registration or sign-up required until October 10, 2026, by using this link: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1nebX7gBP4egsl

NCC's CEO Robin Bissinger, PhD, APRN, NNP-BC, FAAN, was a contributing author to this paper with one of its main purposes to identify barriers to implementing 750 direct patient care clinical hours.

NCC has updated the clinical hour requirements for the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP)and Women's Health Care Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) certifications. Effective January 1, 2030, all applicants graduating after December 31, 2029, must document a minimum of 750 direct patient care clinical hours to be eligible to take NCC's nurse practitioner certification examinations. Simulation hours cannot be used or included to meet this 750-hour requirement. These changes reflect the current regulatory climate and national educational benchmarks and align with the 2022 Standards for Quality Nurse Practitioner Education (6th Edition), the 2023 NANN/NANNP Educational Standards (6th Edition), and the 2020 NPWH Educational Standards addendum.

For complete details on these transitions, deadlines and requirements, visit NCCwebsite.org and click the Faculty, Students, State Boards and Volunteers tab.

ABOUT NCC:
NCC is a non-profit organization committed to promoting quality health care to women, neonates and their families. NCC provides certification and educational programs for nurses, physicians and other licensed health care professionals in the obstetric, gynecologic and neonatal specialties. More than 242,000 licensed health care professionals have been awarded prestigious NCC certifications since its inception in 1975.

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SOURCE National Certification Corporation