Nursing Practice, DNP
Program Description
The Doctor of Nursing Practice program graduate will possess advanced competencies for increasingly complex practice, faculty, and leadership roles in nursing. The curriculum focuses on integrating nursing science with knowledge from ethics, biophysical, psychosocial, analytical, and organizational sciences as the basis for the highest level of evidence-based nursing practice. The program is comprehensive and time-efficient, and fosters motivated, self-directed learners who are able to utilize the highest levels of education to improve nursing practice and patient outcomes. The DNP program equips students with mastery in the areas of leadership, evidence-based practice, policy, scholarship, and interprofessional collaboration.
This program aims to fulfill the recommendations of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) guidelines as prescribed in The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (October, 2006) and The Doctor of Nursing Practice: Current Issues and Clarifying Recommendations (August, 2015).
Mission
Doctor of Nursing Practice program proposes to develop nursing leaders who strive to advance the profession of nursing by enhancing, alleviating, and ameliorating health and health care delivery services.
This is accomplished by developing the student’s competencies and skills necessary to effectively lead health care in the 21st century.
Program Overview
Doctor of Nursing Practice degree will equip experienced nursing professionals with the skills to dynamically improve the health of the patients, communities, and populations they serve. DNP students will also take specialized electives in one of three areas: education, clinical practice, or administration. The program is comprehensive and time-efficient, and is targeted toward motivated, self-directed learners who are able to utilize advanced nursing education to improve nursing practice and patient outcomes.
Program Purpose
Graduates of BSU Doctor of Nursing Practice program will be prepared for the highest level of nursing practice, utilizing an evidence based approach to critically evaluate, design, and implement health care services and educational programs for individuals, populations, and health care systems. They will be leaders of interdisciplinary collaboration that facilitates and improves health outcomes, and will perform scholarship that informs clinical practice and leads to system and organizational change that improves health care delivery and health outcomes.
Program Objectives
Doctor of Nursing Practice program graduates will be prepared to utilize evidence-based theories and concepts to evaluate health care delivery systems and practices; At the conclusion of the program, DNP graduates will be able to:
- Incorporate theory and knowledge from nursing science with the biophysical, psychosocial, analytical and organizational sciences as the foundation for the highest level of nursing practice;
- Integrate information technology and an evidence based approach in clinical scholarship to critically evaluate, design, and implement health care services and educational programs for individuals, populations and systems;
- Develop standards of nursing practice to deliver culturally competent, high quality health services to individuals, populations and systems;
- Enact leadership, critical thinking and effective communications skills to design, evaluate, and improve the implementation of quality nursing services and educational programs;
- Analyze the epidemiological, financial, sociopolitical and organizational forces in the health care environment at the systems level, within ethical, legal and humanistic frameworks;
- Lead interdisciplinary collaboration to facilitate and improve desired health outcomes for individuals, populations and systems; and
Create scholarly written communication that informs clinical practice and that leads to systems and organizational change that will improve health care delivery and health outcomes.
Program Outline
To receive a Doctor of Nursing degree, students must earn 36 graduate semester credit hours including Core courses (21 credits), DNP Project courses (4 credits, 60 clinical hours), Practice Immersion courses (8 credit hours, 480 clinical hours), and one elective course (3 credit hours). Courses in the DNP program are eight weeks in length and scheduled for one or two courses concurrently. The DNP Practice Immersion require on-site hours at instructor-approved practice sites.
Transfer of graduate credits will be evaluated on a case by case basis. Thirty credit hours must be completed through BSU.
Program requirements are as follows:
| DNP Core Courses (21.0 credit hours) | |
| Introduction to Doctor of Nursing Practice & DNP Project | 3.0 credit hours |
| Advocacy, Leadership, & Ethics in Advanced Practice | 3.0 credit hours |
| Scientific Underpinnings of Evidence-based Practice | 3.0 credit hours |
| Epidemiology and Biostatistics in Health Care | 3.0 credit hours |
| Organizational Management, Quality, & Safety | 3.0 credit hours |
| Information Management in Evidence-based Practice | 3.0 credit hours |
| Economics & Business Planning for Advanced Practice | 3.0 credit hours |
| DNP Project Courses (4.0 credit hours, 60 clinical hours) | |
| DNP Project I: Topic & Literature Review | 1.0 credit hours |
| DNP Project II: Methodology & IRB Submission | 1.0 credit hours |
| DNP Project III: Implementation (60 clinical hours) | 1.0 credit hours |
| DNP Project IV: Evaluation of Outcomes & Dissemination | 1.0 credit hours |
| Practice Immersion Courses (8.0 credit hours, 480 clinical hours) | |
| Practice Immersion I (120 clinical hours) | 2.0 credit hours |
| Practice Immersion II (120 clinical hours) | 2.0 credit hours |
| Practice Immersion III (120 clinical hours) | 2.0 credit hours |
| Practice Immersion IV (120 clinical hours) | 2.0 credit hours |
| Elective Courses (choice of one 3.0 credit hour course) | |
| Adult Teaching and Learning | 3.0 credit hours |
| Acute and Emergent Health Problems | 3.0 credit hours |
| Health Care Administration | 3.0 credit hours |
