Description
The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program prepares Family Nurse Practitioners to examine health care outcomes on a systems level. DNPs develop and implement innovative practice change, translate evidence and implement quality improvement processes within specific sites, systems, and populations. They are prepared to develop and evaluate new models of care delivery in order to create and sustain change at the system level while improving health outcomes.
The DNP program combines the flexibility of online learning, with opportunities to interact remotely or in-person with supportive campus-based faculty mentors. Our program faculty remain active in clinical practice and professional leadership roles. The program is self-paced and can be completed one course at a time by working Family Nurse Practitioners.
The 30-credit post-masters DNP program involves five didactic courses including content relating to health care systems leadership, evaluating clinical outcomes, translating research into evidence-based practice, quality improvement and professional writing. In addition, all students will complete and disseminate a clinically based DNP project.
Health Standards
All graduate nursing students are required to provide an annual health update and screening consistent with current guidelines. Documentation of up to date immunization status is also required, including COVID-19 vaccination.
Admission to the Program
Admission requirements for the DNP program consider both the academic requirements in the program as well as the professional demands in the role.
- Unencumbered NYS license as a Registered Nurse
- Unencumbered NYS license as a Family Nurse Practitioner
- National certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner must be present upon admission or achieved before beginning the DNP project coursework if directly admitted from a master’s degree program.
- Master's degree from an accredited nursing program
- Relevant recent work experience in an advanced practice nursing role preferred.
- A minimum GPA of 3.2 in all graduate coursework
- Two professional letters of recommendation
- Curriculum Vitae
- Professional writing sample
- Personal statement
- All Health and Technical Standards must be met.
Program Requirements
Students must meet the College's standards for graduate study.
Required Courses
- NUR 610 Professional Writing (3 credits)
- NUR 818 Health Care Systems: Organizational Leadership and Financing (3 credits)
- NUR 725 Translating Research Into Evidence Based Practice (3 credits)
- NUR 877 Outcome Evaluation and Measurement Methods in Clinical Practice (3 credits)
- NUR 787 Quality and Safety Measures in Clinical Practice (2 credits)
The DNP Project
- NUR 898/899 DNP Project I&II (6 credits total)
- NUR 800/850 Advanced Clinical Practice Populations and Systems I&II (6 credits total)
- NUR 860 Transformational Leadership in Advanced Clinical Practice (2 credits)
- NUR 900 DNP Project Dissemination (1 credit)
Student Learning Outcomes
The program's Student Learning Outcomes are consistent with the AACN DNP Essentials and are as follows:
- Demonstrates expertise in the evaluation and implementation of clinical practice guidelines and specialized knowledge as it applies to advance practice nursing.
- Critically analyzes current data, information, and knowledge from humanities and sciences that contribute to the science of advanced practice nursing to address access to, cost of, quality, and safety of care.
- Engages in clinical scholarship, including application of theory to translate research into practice.
- Collaborates with appropriate stakeholders to promote quality, safety, and improved outcomes of individuals and populations via organizational and systems leadership.
- Employs the use of information systems to capture data to be evaluated with various methods to promote safe, quality, cost effective care.
- Demonstrates understanding of interdependence of policy and practice by incorporating topics such as access, equity, quality, and economics of healthcare in the development, evaluation, and advocacy for healthcare policy at multiple levels of governance.
- Applies and evaluates the impact of ethical principles in complex decision making processes.
- Synthesizes and incorporates inclusion of concepts of psychosocial dimensions, cultural diversity, and global health into advanced practice nursing.
- Develops the skills of an independent, accountable prescriber and full scope advanced practice nurse.