Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice DNP

Purpose

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program prepares graduates for careers as adult gerontology primary care or psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners with the skills to lead interdisciplinary teams and implement population- focused and evidenced-based health interventions. In addition, DNP graduates are prepared to improve and transform health care through systems’ leadership, research translation, advanced clinical knowledge, application and nursing education. The DNP course work includes translation research methods, theory, health policy, population health, informatics, systems leadership, leadership residencies, and scholarly projects to achieve the goals for the DNP and to meet national accreditation and certification standards.

Outcomes

The Doctor of Nursing Practice Program is designed to prepare advanced practice nurses who are qualified for the American Nurses Credentialing Center examination. The graduate with a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree is prepared to:

1. Integrates, translates, and applies established and evolving nursing knowledge, ways of knowing and multidisciplinary knowledge to maximize health outcomes.

2. Implements person-centered care, defined as caring, holistic, equitable, respectful, evidence-based and developmentally appropriate care, to reduce risk and improve health outcomes.

3. Collaborates across the healthcare delivery continuum, public and private sectors, to provide equitable public health prevention measures and disease management for improved population outcomes for the community of interest.

4. Engages in scholarship through the synthesis, translation, application, and dissemination of nursing knowledge to improve health and transform health care.

5. Implements principles of quality and safety, evaluates outcomes, and promotes system effectiveness and individual performance to enhance quality and minimize risk of harm to patients and providers across the healthcare system. .

6. Facilitates effective communication and collaboration with patients, communities, professional partners and other stakeholders in a variety of forums to optimize healthcare outcomes.

7. Demonstrates organizational and systems leadership to deliver high quality, safe and equitable healthcare to diverse populations.

8. Envisions, appraises, and utilizes communication, informatics, and healthcare technologies to support professional best practice and deliver quality and compassionate care to patients, communities, and populations

9. Formulates and cultivates a sustainable professional identity as an advanced practice nurse as demonstrated by the accountability, perspective, collaborative disposition, and comportment that reflects nursing’s characteristics and values.

10. Advances personal, professional and leadership skills through self-reflection and activities that foster personal well-being, contribute to lifelong learning, and support the acquisition of expertise as an advanced practice nurse and leader.

Curriculum

The DNP curriculum consists of a minimum of 64-67 credits (for the BS-DNP plan), and 28 credits for the post MS-DNP plan. The curriculum addresses areas of didactic and practicum content that have been deemed essential for advanced practice nurses by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Student options:

The BS-DNP plan: The Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner option prepares advanced practice nurses who will function as adult gerontolgy primary care nurse practitioners and manage primary and chronic health problems in adult populations.
The BS-DNP plan: The Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner option prepares advanced practice nurses who will function as psychiatric-mental health clinicians for individuals and families across the lifespan.
The Post-MS DNP plan prepares DNP advanced practice nurses with the skills to lead interdisciplinary teams and implement population-focused and evidenced-based health interventions.

Students complete a professional portfolio documenting attainment of the DNP competencies. In addition to classroom and experiential learning in the practitioner role, the student completes the DNP residency – a three-semester structured experiential learning sequence with faculty and health care systems leaders, in informatics and quality improvement – and a translational research project that is focused on improving the quality of care and patient outcomes.

Graduates of the DNP Program are eligible to take American Nurses Credentialing Center certifying examinations for Advanced Practice in Adult Gerontology Primary Care and Psychiatric- Mental Health.

All degree requirements must be completed within seven years of the date of matriculation in the program.

Program of Study

The Program of Study plan is completed by the student and the advisor before the student registers for classes (usually immediately upon admission). The Program of Study defines for the student and the DNP Committee a plan to complete the academic requirements for the DNP degree. The official Program of Study reflects the course work that contributes to the student’s knowledge base for advanced practice nursing and qualifies the student for graduation. A copy is kept on file in the student’s record in the Graduate Program office and the student is provided with a copy.