DNP Program Course Descriptions
These courses are part of the core Doctor of Nursing Practice curriculum. For additional courses required as part of a specialty (e.g. adult-gero acute care, family nurse practitioner, psych-mental health, etc.), visit the individual specialty program's page linked from the main Doctor of Nursing Practice page.
Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours: 3 didactic hours per week
Course Description: This course focuses on the role of the doctorally prepared nurse in relation to policy, practice, and research. Students investigate policy on health care - particularly access, delivery, financing, and regulation - and asses nursing roles in policy development, political activism, and research. Students learn the ability to critically analyze the policy process and engage in the process competently.
Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours: 3 didactic hours per week
Course Description: This course focuses on the understanding of biostatistics for application in nursing and evidence-based practice. It emphasizes interpretation of and appraisal of data analysis for the selection and use of best evidence for making practical conclusions about empirical data.
Credit Hours: 3 graduate semester credit hours
Contact Hours: 3 didactic hours per week
Pre/Co-Requisites: None
Course Description: This course emphasizes the necessity of interdisciplinary collaboration, systems-level thinking and innovation to advance public health programs and initiatives. It prepares students to identify, critique and develop evidence-based leadership models to improve population health outcomes. Students learn about and apply population-focused leadership models to address health outcomes.
Credit Hours: 4
Contact Hours: 4 didactic hours per week
Course Description: This course focuses on the essentials of the research
process to facilitate students' ability to knowledgeably and effectively find, appraise, and apply scientific findings to nursing practice. Students access credible sources using a systematic approach, evaluate the quality of research findings, discuss methods of translating and integrating findings into nursing practice, and evaluate outcomes.
Credit Hours: 2
Contact Hours: 2 didactic hours per week
Course Description: This course focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for using data from information systems to evaluate and improve health care. Students build a foundation for the appraisal of health information systems in various settings and consider how those systems can be employed to maximize the quality of health care. In addition, students compare informatics tools for data extraction, organization and interpretation, and examine how to evaluate information sources. Communication and dissemination of findings through various informatics tools are discussed.
Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours: 3 didactic hours per week
Course Descriptions: The focus of this seminar course is on transitioning to the role of clinical scholar. Emphasis is placed on developing an awareness and understanding of the essential knowledge and skills for the DNP role.
Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours: 3 didactic hours per week
Course Description: This course prepares students to design, implement and evaluate evidence-based quality health care practices for patient populations (individuals and aggregates) in acute, home and community settings. Working as partners in interdisciplinary teams, students will assess organizational culture, gather safety information, analyze data and translate findings into systems changes through action learning experiences within an organization.
Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours: 12 clinical hours per week
Course Description: This practicum is the first of three sequential courses in the DNP program and focuses on the comprehensive and systematic assessment of health care problems in complex situations. Diverse and culturally sensitive approaches are used in developing an awareness of the role of the nurse leader.
Credit Hours: 4
Contact Hours: 4 didactic hours per week
Course Description: This course focuses on the acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary for assessment, design, implementation and evaluation of effective health programs and projects. Emphasis is placed on the use of health programs and projects to improve systems of care and health outcomes and the evaluation of these systems.
Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours: 12 clinical hours per week
Course Description: This practicum is the second of three sequential courses in the DNP program. This practicum focuses on the design of evidence-based interventions to address a health care problem. Students explore the nurse leader's role in fostering effective relationships in systems of care.
Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours: 12 clinical hours per week
Course Description: This practicum is the third of thee sequential courses in the DNP program. The focus of this practicum is on the planning, implementation and relevant evaluation of evidence-based interventions to address a health care problem. Students explore the nurse leader's role in guiding and mentoring others in the selection of evidence-based interventions.
Credit Hours: 2
Contact Hours: 2 didactic hours per week
Course Description: This course focuses on synthesis of the leadership role for improving practice and outcomes in client systems and care delivery. These leadership skills are demonstrated in the capstone project, which focuses on the translation of theory, knowledge, and evidence for the advancement of nursing practice.
Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours: 45 seminar hours
Course Description: This course runs concurrently with the leadership seminar course and DNP Practicum 3. In this seminar, all students working on a capstone will meet regularly, either face-to-face or virtually, with their chair to discuss progress, problems and lessons learned in order to progress in a timely manner through the writing portion of the capstone process. The seminar is lead by the student's capstone chair with goals and objectives set between the student and the faculty.
- Provide and/or direct exemplary patient care within the scope of practice for the specialty.
- Integrate nursing science with knowledge from biophysical, psychosocial, political, economic, organizational and analytical sciences as the basis for the highest level of nursing practice.
- Apply concepts related to clinical prevention in developing and evaluating interventions and programs to address health promotion/disease prevention efforts.
- Demonstrate leadership for the delivery of ethical, safe, cost-effective, high-quality health care through expert collaboration, consultation, analysis and administration.
- Develop quality programs designed to improve health care of individuals, populations or society through the use of multidisciplinary teams.
- Demonstrate the conceptual ability and technical skills to develop and execute an evaluation plan involving data extraction from clinical information.
- Formulate strategies for the development of institutional, local or national health policy.