Doctor of Nursing Practice
Description
The Nursing@Simmons online Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program is carefully designed for experienced, advanced practice nurses and nurse leaders. With a strong focus on Professional Practice Leadership, our program develops nursing leaders who improve health care outcomes in clinical practice, research and management. We offer a blended learning format, allowing our students to fit course requirements around their schedules.
Learning Outcomes
Our DNP program will prepare students to:
- Integrate nursing science with knowledge from ethics, the biophysical, psychosocial, analytical and organizational sciences.
- Demonstrate leadership in organizations and health care systems to promote safe and efficient care delivery to both individuals and populations.
- Conduct practice-based research.
- Utilize technology and informatics to improve health care and to implement change in health care systems.
- Design, influence and implement health care policies that affect health care financing, practice regulation, access to care, safety, quality, and efficacy of care.
- Collaborate with interdisciplinary professionals and teams to improve patient and population health outcomes.
- Assume a leadership role in the design of evidence-based interventions that enhance clinical prevention and population health.
(Adapted from the AACN Doctoral Essentials (2006))
Admission Requirements
MS in nursing or a related Master's degree (3.5 graduate GPA) from a regionally accredited U.S. post-secondary institution.
Evidence of RN licensure in good standing and board certification in the U.S. (notarized copies of certification/license) in an advanced practice specialty (NP, CNS, CNM, CRNA) or experience (at least two years post-Master's) as a nurse manager/nurse executive. Board certification in management (CENP, CNML) is preferred but not required for nurse managers.
Applicants must have taken an undergraduate statistics course at a regionally accredited U.S. post-secondary institution within 7 years prior to the application deadline. The course must be equal to a semester in length and a grade of B or better is required. The course may be in progress at the time of application but cannot be completed after acceptance or enrollment in the DNP program, as it is an admission requirement.
Prerequisites and Corequisite Rules
- NURP 640 Advanced Research Methods: Must be completed prior to DNP Project Seminar Sequence, and is a prerequisite or corequisite for NURP 655
- NURP 750A DNP Project Seminar I: Must be completed prior to NURP 750B & NURP 750C
- NURP 750B DNP Project Seminar II: Must be completed prior to NURP 750C
- NURP 690 Capstone Advisement: DNP students must enroll in NURP 690: Capstone Advisement (one credit tuition; no credit is earned), in order to continue work on the Capstone Project, should they not complete their project within the 3-term DNP project sequence.
Degree requirements
Credits
The DNP will prepare doctoral-level nursing clinicians for expert practice and leadership in clinical settings. All DNP students will enroll in core courses (24 credits) and complete a Capstone Project (6 credits).
DNP Course Sequence
*The below course sequence is a sample sequence. Please check with your Academic Advisor to confirm your plan of study and course sequence.
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Term 4
Term 5
Term 6
Term 7
DNP Symposium
The DNP Symposium for Emerging Nurse Leaders is an on-campus (non-credit) course requirement. After the final term of the Post-MSN to DNP program, students participate in the Doctoral Symposium for Emerging Nurse Leaders. The symposium gives students the opportunity to present their DNP Projects to their peers and faculty as a final requirement to complete their degrees. Designed to offer professional development and career guidance, the symposium also includes skills workshops, networking opportunities and social events, and a featured speaker and/or panel of experts.
DNP Clinical Placement
Post-Masters DNP students are required to complete a minimum of 1,000 clinical hours. Clinical hours completed during the student’s Master of Science in Nursing degree program count towards the total minimum 1,000 clinical hours required.
The Post Masters DNP policy for clinical hours offers guidance to document one thousand clinical hours (1000) required for completion of the DNP. Clinical hours in the DNP program are defined as hours spent related to the development and implementation of the DNP Project. These hours are done through the capstone courses with the advisement and supervision of DNP faculty and community collaborators.
- Students will present the hours documented in their advanced practice masters preparation upon admission.
- Students will continue to document the hours spent in their capstone courses. Hours spent during the capstone courses and in any phase of implementing the capstone project will be documented every semester.
- Documentation of hours will be entered each semester in the portfolio along with examples of the essentials met during the completion of the capstone course and capstone activities.
Prior to registration for term 2, all DNP students must submit a verification form completed by the college/university where they received their MSN degree, verifying their completed MSN clinical hours. All completed forms must be submitted by the college/university to nuroladvising@simmons.edu. Students who do not complete the verification form will not be able to register for term 2 until the form has been received.
DNP Executive Cohort Program
Simmons partners with local hospitals, research, and medical agencies to offer their employees a cohort-based, Doctor of Nursing Practice program with a focus on Executive Leadership. The 33-credit program is offered in a hybrid format, with most required courses being offered online. A sample course sequence can be found here.