Doctor of Nursing Practice

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History and Philosophy

The 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, 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. Additionally, the Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2010) 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. 

Students interested in pursuing specialty preparation in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care (AGAC) Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) and/or Nurse Practitioner (NP), Family NP, Pediatric Primary Care NP, Psychiatric-Mental Health NP, Neonatal NP or Pediatric Acute Care NP may choose a post-baccalaureate option to the DNP. Students obtaining a DNP in this manner are poised to become the kind of advanced practice nurses originally envisioned by the AACN; that is, entry into advanced nursing practice with a DNP.

Purpose

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

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

Program Objectives

Objectives for the DNP program are derived from the AACN (2006) document, The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/dnp/pdf/essentials.pdf). 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 engagement 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:

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

Have an MSN degree from a nationally accredited (CCNE or NLN ACEN) school.
Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in undergraduate and graduate study.
Have completed an undergraduate or graduate-level course in statistics within 5 years of program start.
Possess an unencumbered RN license in the state where you intend to do your clinical practica. All matriculating students who are not active-duty military nurses must have a Virginia RN license before the first day of classes.
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.
Have at least 2 years of full-time RN experience in a relevant area.
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 post-baccalaureate pathway, applicants must submit a completed application and:

Have a BSN or generalist MSN degree (ie. CNL, nursing education, nursing informatics, public health or health administration) from a nationally accredited (CCNE or NLN ACEN) school.
Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in undergraduate and graduate study.
Have completed an undergraduate or graduate-level course in statistics within 5 years of program start.
Possess an unencumbered RN license in the state where you intend to do your clinical practica. All matriculating students who are not active-duty military nurses must have a Virginia RN license before the first day of classes.
Submit three satisfactory academic and professional recommendations, one of which should be from an APRN.
Submit a current resume or CV.
Send official transcripts for all post-secondary study.
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 as an RN (within the last 5 years).
Be available for an interview if requested.
International applicants have additional requirements.

Admission Procedure Applications are available on the SON website: https://www.nursing.virginia.edu/admissions/apply/ with a December 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 the required courses described below, a minimum of 500 DNP practicum hours, and a DNP Scholarly Practice Project.

Course Load The University’s full-time minimum is 12 credits and part-time minimum for some financial aid types is 6 credits. Students who must meet the corresponding full-time or part-time status must enroll in elective(s) when the required coursework for the semester is below the minimum thresholds. DNP students conducting scholarship or research with a faculty member can seek approval from the program director for taking GNUR 9997 for a maximum of 3 credits per semester and a maximum of 6 credits over their program of study. 

Length of Time in Program For the post-master’s DNP, full-time students complete the plan of study in two years and part-time students typically complete the plan of study in three years. In the post-baccalaureate pathway, full-time students typically complete in four years and part-time students typically complete in five years. An accelerated plan of study is available to full-time students who wish to complete the program in three years, pending a meeting with and approval from the program director.

Note Post-master’s DNP and BSN-DNP Pathway: If you have completed a generalist MSN (such as those listed above in Post-Baccalaureate Pathway), a credit gap analysis will be conducted upon matriculation by the program director (or delegate) to determine if the student will need to take electives to fulfill credits completed for the MSN.

Program Description

Courses

The post-master’s portion of the DNP program requires a minimum of 39 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 Practice. These courses provide the conceptual and theoretical basis required for all DNP graduates, and practice change competencies 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:

Required Courses for the DNP degree:

GNUR 8240 - DNP I: Introduction to DNP Practice Inquiry and Scholarship Credits: 2
GNUR 8250 - Applied Statistics for Clinical Practice Credits: 3
GNUR 8260 - DNP II: Application of Practice Inquiry, Implementation Sci and Scholarship Credits: 3
GNUR 8270 - DNP III: Introduction to DNP Scholarly Project Evaluation and Dissemination Credits: 2
GNUR 8620 - Quality and Safety in Healthcare Systems Credits: 3
GNUR 8640 - Nursing Ethics for Advanced Practice Credits: 3
GNUR 8650 - Information Systems and Patient Care Technology Credits: 3
GNUR 8660 - Evidence-Based Practice Credits: 3
GNUR 8670 - Resilient Leadership and Resource Management in Complex Healthcare Systems Credits: 4
GNUR 8680 - Culturally Sensitive Approaches to Improving Population Health Credits: 4
GNUR 9600 - DNP Practicum Credits: 1 to 9
A total of 9 credits of GNUR 9600 are required.

Practica

The AACN requires 1,000 hours of post-baccalaureate clinical practice for the DNP degree. 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 program. If their master’s program did not require 500 hours, students will need to complete additional DNP 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 DNP faculty. 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 may be lighter than others. Students are encouraged to enroll in courses offered across Grounds to enhance their education and practice goals.

Public Professional Licensure Disclosure

As a member of the State Authorizations Reciprocity Agreement, the University of Virginia (UVA) is authorized to provide curriculum in a distance learning environment to students located in all states in the United States except for California. (34 CFR 668.43(a)(6)& 34 CFR 668.72(n)).

Upon completion of the Doctor of Nursing Practice at the UVA School of Nursing, graduates may be eligible for initial professional licensure in another U.S. state by applying to the licensing board or agency in that state.

Please visit the University’s state authorization web pages to make an informed decision regarding which states’ educational requirements for initial licensure are met by this program. (668.43(a)(5) (v)(A) - (C))

Enrolled students who change their current (or mailing) address to a state other than Virginia should update this information immediately in the Student Information System as it may impact their ability to complete internship, practicum, or clinical hours, use Title IV funds, or meet licensure or certification requirements in the new state. (34 CFR 668.402).