Doctor of Nursing Practice Program
The Post-Master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program infuses practice-focused doctoral education with innovation and practical clinical research and scholarship designed to serve academically talented nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, midwives, nurse anesthetists, nurse executives, clinical nurse leaders, and educators. Graduates of this program are prepared to teach, lead, and engage in practical, clinically focused scholarship and research. The Doctor of Nursing Practice degree is a practice doctorate requiring the completion of a DNP project focusing on translation of evidence to clinical nursing practice. This cohort program is 39 credits and is designed to be completed in a 3-year, part-time sequence. The DNP program is licensed and accredited by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education. The DNP program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). For information, contact the CCNE at One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 530, Washington, DC 20036-1120; phone: 202-887-6791; or website: www.aacn.nche.edu.
DNP Program Tracks
The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program is designed for the nurse leader who seeks a career in nursing management, with a strong connection to clinical practice, as well as for the advanced practice nurse who wants to remain in clinical practice and have influence on healthcare outcomes at multiple levels. Students may take additional nursing education courses as electives if they aspire to have a career in academia.
Course Delivery Method
Two options exist for the student to choose from. The unique hybrid/intensive program offers classes that are held during two Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on-campus intensives per semester and supplemented with online activities. The other option is 100% online with a required on-campus orientation and one required residency over the duration of the program.
Doctor of Nursing Practice Essentials
The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice is the framework for the DNP program curricula.
- I. Scientific Underpinnings for Practice
- II. Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking
- III. Clinical Scholarship and Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice
- IV. Information Systems/Technology and Patient Care Technology for the Improvement and Transformation of Healthcare
- V. Healthcare Policy for Advocacy in Healthcare
- VI. Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes
- VII. Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving the Nation’s Health
- VIII. Advanced Nursing Practice
Admission Requirements
Admission to the DNP program is competitive. Students are admitted to the DNP program upon review and recommendation by the admissions committee based on academic, course prerequisite, and professional requirements listed below.
The criteria for admission include:
- Master of Science in Nursing or its equivalent from a college accredited by the appropriate accrediting association, with a minimum GPA of 3.2
- Current U.S. licensure as a Registered Nurse
- Current advanced practice nursing licensure and certification documents
- Statement of professional goals
- Articulation of a focal area of clinical nursing practice or research interest that can be supported by the Sacred Heart University doctoral nursing faculty
- Letters of recommendation (one clinical and one academic)
- Professional portfolio with graded writing sample
- Interview with the program director
- Undergraduate/graduate statistics course within the last 6 years
Degree Requirements
DNP students are required to design an approved plan of study in collaboration with a faculty advisor that must be satisfactorily completed, with a minimum GPA of 3.0, to earn the degree. The plan of study varies depending on the track the student pursues.
Prerequisite Courses
DNP applicants must have successfully completed a basic statistics course at the undergraduate or graduate level within the past 6 years. For students admitted without the prerequisite statistics course, a prerequisite 500-level statistics course will be completed by students admitted to the DNP program as determined by the program director. This graduate-level statistics course is required prior to registering for NU 730. Students that have a master’s degree in a field other than nursing may be required to take an additional 6 credits of master’s level nursing courses in order to achieve program competencies.
Required Doctor of Nursing Practice Core Courses
All DNP students are required to take the following:
| NU 700 | Theoretical Components of Nursing Science | 3 |
| NU 710 | Healthcare Policy, Advocacy, & Ethics | 3 |
| NU 720 | Leading Quality Initiatives & Information Systems in Healthcare | 3 |
| NU 721 | DNP Project Topic Development | 1 |
| NU 722 | DNP Project Methodology Development | 1 |
| NU 723 | DNP Project Proposal Presentation | 1 |
| NU 724 | Responsible Conduct of Research | 1 |
| NU 725 | DNP Project Implementation & Data Analysis | 1 |
| NU 726 | Final DNP Project Presentation, Dissemination, & Evaluation | 1 |
| NU 730 | Advanced Biostatistics & Research Design | 3 |
| NU 740 | Epidemiology & Population Health | 3 |
| NU 750 | Clinical Scholarship & Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice | 3 |
| NU 760 | Strategic Leadership & Collaboration in Healthcare Organizations | 3 |
| NU 770 | Advanced Care of Special Populations | 3 |
| NU 780 | Leadership in Chronic Disease Management & Aging Populations | 3 |
| NU 810 | DNP Scholarship & Advanced Practice I | 3 |
| NU 820 | DNP Scholarship & Advanced Practice II | 3 |
Education Electives
In addition to the core requirements and DNP scholarly project, students in the DNP program are offered the option to complete 6 credits of elective courses:
| NU 741 | Teaching Learning Principles & Curriculum Design in Advanced Nursing Education | 3 |
| NU 742 | Leadership in Advanced Nursing Education | 3 |
Doctor of Nursing Practice Project
The DNP project focuses on an endeavor consistent with the student’s identified clinical research interests. This scholarly project must be a significant, evidence-based contribution to existing nursing knowledge and be suitable for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or a book. The lead DNP mentor will act as mentor and facilitator of the student’s scholarship. A minimum of 360 clinical practice residency hours will be used to collect and evaluate data on a specific population in a practice setting. Each student will identify a clinical practice mentor who will assist the student with the requirements of the practice dissertation.