Mar 29, 2024  
Graduate Record 2016-2017 
    
Graduate Record 2016-2017 [ARCHIVED RECORD]

Doctor of Nursing Practice


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History and Philosophy


The University of Virginia (UVA) School of Nursing (SON) opened the first Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program in Virginia in 2007 in response to the demands associated with increasing complexity in the health care system, expansion of scientific knowledge, and growing concerns regarding the quality of patient care delivery and outcomes. The UVA program, now fully accredited by the Commission for Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), supports the vision for transformational change in education for professional nurses who practice at the most advanced level. The American Association for Colleges of Nursing (AACN) position statement on the DNP degree recommends that nurses practicing at the highest level should receive doctoral-level preparation.  More recently, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) statement on the Future of Nursing recommends that nurses achieve higher levels of education and training to meet the increasing demands of contemporary health care. 

In the fall of 2013 a post-baccalaureate option to the DNP was initiated for students interested in obtaining an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care (A-G AC) Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) and/or Nurse Practitioner (NP) Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) specialty. This pathway was expanded to include Family NP, Pediatric NP, and Psychiatric-Mental Health NP in 2015. Students obtaining a DNP in this manner are poised to become the kind of advance practice nurses originally envisioned by the AACN; that is, that entry into advanced nursing practice would be with a DNP.

The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/dnp/pdf/essentials.pdf), developed by the AACN, provide guidelines for DNP programs and to serve as a basis for accreditation of programs. The DNP Program at UVA was designed to meet these Essentials. The program encourages DNP students to tailor an individualized program using cognate courses from any School or department throughout the University.

Purpose

The purpose of the Doctor in Nursing Practice Degree is to prepare DNP students to:

  1. Perform at the highest level of nursing practice.
  2. Assume leadership roles in complex healthcare delivery systems.
  3. Critically appraise existing literature and other evidence in a specialty area to determine and implement best practices.
  4. Improve patient outcomes by expanding DNP student knowledge of evidence-based practice.

Program Objectives

Objectives for the DNP program are derived from the AACN document, The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice. At the completion of this program, students are expected to demonstrate the competencies required for the highest level of nursing practice. DNP graduates will be able to do the following:

  • Integrate nursing science with knowledge from ethics, the biophysical, psychosocial, analytical, and organizational sciences as the basis for the highest level of nursing practice;
  • Demonstrate organizational and systems leadership for quality improvement in healthcare systems;
  • Apply clinical scholarship and analytical methods to evidence-based practice;
  • Use information systems technology and patient care technology to improve and transform health care;
  • Demonstrate leadership in health care policy for advocacy in health care;
  • Collaborate with interprofessional and intraprofessional teams to improve patient and population health outcomes.

Admission


Admission Requirements

Post-Master’s Pathway:

  • Have an MSN degree from a nationally accredited (CCNE or NLN) school.
  • Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in undergraduate and graduate study.
  • Have completed an intermediate-level course in statistics, using SPSS, SAS, or R within the past 5 years.
  • Possess an unencumbered RN license in the state where you intend to do your clinical practica.
  • Have a valid certification in specialty nursing (NP, CNS, etc), if applicable, by the time of entry into the program.
  • Submit three satisfactory academic and professional recommendations.
  • Submit a current resume or CV.
  • Send official transcripts for all post-secondary study.
  • Be available for an interview if requested.
  • International applicants have additional requirements.

Post-Baccalaureate Pathway:

Admission to the School of Nursing is competitive and based on evaluation of all portions of the application. To be considered for the Doctor in Nursing Practice, applicants must submit a completed application and:

  • Have a BSN or generalist MSN degree from a nationally accredited (CCNE or NLNAC) school.
  • Have at least 2 years of full-time RN experience in a relevant area.
  • Applicants to the NNP track must have 2 years’ experience in a NICU (within the last 5 years).
  • Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in undergraduate and graduate study.
  • Have completed an intermediate-level course in statistics within the past 5 years.
  • Possess an unencumbered RN license in the US and be eligible for RN certification in Virginia
  • Submit three satisfactory academic and professional recommendations.
  • Submit a current resume or CV.
  • Send official transcripts for all post-secondary study.
  • Be available for an interview if requested.
  • International applicants have additional requirements.

Admission Procedure Applications are submitted on-line from the SON website: http://nursing.virginia.edu/admissions/ with a November 1 deadline.

Degree Requirements


To earn a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, the post-MSN pathway student must successfully complete the prescribed plan of study, including 11 didactic courses, a minimum of 504 DNP practicum hours, and a DNP Scholarly Practice Project.

Course Load All students receiving financial assistance are required to be at least half time (6 credits) every semester. A student’s plan of study is determined in collaboration with his or her faculty advisor. GNUR 9998 (Doctoral Research—with the DNP Program Director) may be taken concurrently with other course work to bring the total number of credits up to 12. 

Length of Time in Program The plan of study for the post-MSN Pathway to the DNP requires a minimum of 40 credits over a period of two years. The plan of study for the post-baccalaureate pathway to the DNP requires a minimum of 72-84 credits (depending on the specialty) over a period of three years. All plans of study can be found on the School of Nursing website under Academics.

Transfer of Credit Transcripts of students who have completed a master’s degree in nursing or other graduate work are evaluated, and credit may be transferred if assessed as equivalent to courses offered at the University of Virginia. Acceptance of specific cognate and elective courses is determined by the student’s faculty advisor. Acceptance of core courses is determined by the instructor(s) who teach the course(s) in collaboration with the faculty advisor. The process of obtaining transfer credit must be initiated by the student before the end of the first year of study.

Program Description


Courses


The post-master’s portion of the DNP program requires a minimum of 40 credits, including DNP practica, and is designed to enable the student to meet the DNP Essentials and Competencies found in the AACN Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Pratice. These courses provide conceptual and theoretical basis required for all DNP graduates, and practice change competency necessary for effective leadership at the highest level of evidence based practice.

In addition to the DNP courses below, the post-baccalaureate pathway requires courses pursuant to the MSN track (GNUR 6050 & 6054 are not required for BSN to DNP pathway):

Courses:

Practica


DNP students need a minimum of 1,000 hours of post-baccalaureate practice experience to achieve the DNP competencies. This addresses the AACN requirement for 1,000 hours of clinical practice for DNP. It is anticipated that most MSN-DNP students will come to the DNP Program with at least 500 supervised clinical practice hours from their specialty master’s program and students receive credit for 500 documented hours in the DNP Proram. If their  master’s program did not require 500 hours, students will need to schedule additional practicum hours to meet the 500 hour MSN-level clinical hours expectation. 

DNP Scholarly Practice Project


The DNP program culminates in the successful completion of a DNP Scholarly Practice Project. This DNP Project is conceptualized in the early stages of the program and continues throughout the program. The DNP Project is designed by the student in collaboration with the DNP Advisor, DNP Practice Mentor, and the DNP Practicum course professor. The DNP Project must be a significant, evidence-based contribution to nursing practice and be suitable for publication in a peer-reviewed, practice-focused nursing journal. Each DNP Project “should: 

a. Focus on a change that impacts healthcare outcomes either through direct or indirect care.

b. Have a systems (micro-, meso-, or macro- level) or population/aggregate focus.

c. Demonstrate implementation in the appropriate arena or area of practice.

d. Include a plan for sustainability (e.g. financial, systems or political realities, not only theoretical abstractions).

e. Include an evaluation of processes and/or outcomes (formative or summative). DNP Projects should be designed so that processes and/or outcomes will be evaluated to guide practice and policy. Clinical significance is as important in guiding practice as statistical significance is in evaluating research.

f. Provide a foundation for future practice scholarship” AACN, 2015).

Electives


Some semesters of the program are lighter than others. During the lighter semesters, students are encouraged to enroll in courses offered across Grounds to enhance their education and practice goals.

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