Doctor of Nursing Practice Program
The purpose of the DNP program at the FSMFN is to prepare nurse practitioner and nurse-midwife leaders who will evaluate and improve primary care practice.
The ultimate goal of the program is to improve the health care and the health status of populations with a focus on rural and underserved communities.
Graduates of the program will:
- Demonstrate advanced levels of clinical scholarship.
- Critically analyze complex primary care clinical situations and health care systems to promote optimal outcomes.
- Evaluate and apply conceptual models, theories, and research in order to improve the health status of individuals as well as diverse populations with a focus on rural and underserved communities.
- Design, deliver, direct, and disseminate evidence-based practices.
- Analyze the social, economic, political and policy components of health care systems which affect primary health care planning and delivery.
- Assume leadership roles in the development of primary health clinical practice models, health policy, and standards of care.
- Employ professional values and ethical decision making in advanced practice nursing and midwifery.
- Contribute to the body of nursing and midwifery knowledge.
- Use information systems to design select, use, and evaluate health care programs, outcomes and systems.
- Demonstrate competence as a clinical educator.
Description of the DNP Program
The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is conceived as the highest degree for clinical nursing practice. The FSMFN DNP program is initially designed as a post-master’s degree program for nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives who want to improve their skills in the areas of leadership, clinical scholarship, evidence-based practice and clinical evaluation. All students entering the DNP program must be registered nurses who have completed a master’s degree in nursing and are nationally certified as either a nurse practitioner or a nurse-midwife. The DNP program builds upon and expands the competencies of the masters’ prepared advanced practice nurse.
The DNP program is 33 semester credits. These include 8 credits (360 hours) of clinical practicum. The curriculum is delivered using distance education strategies over the course of five 12-week terms. There are two required on-campus experiences. The first is a three-day orientation to the program called DNP Bound. The second on-campus experience is at the midpoint of the program, when students will attend a three-day residency during which they will present their proposed projects to their student colleagues and faculty. During terms Four and Five, students spend approximately 20 hours per week in a clinical site.
The DNP curriculum has been carefully constructed to incorporate the eight essential competencies delineated by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The competencies address the following:
- Scientific underpinning for practice
- Organizational and systems leadership for quality improvement and systems thinking
- Clinical scholarship and analytical methods for evidence-based practice
- Information systems/technology and patient care technology for the improvement and transformation of health care
- Health care policy for advocacy in health care
- Inter-professional collaboration for improving patient and population health outcomes
- Clinical prevention and population health for improving the nation’s health
- Advanced nursing practice
The DNP completion program is full-time plan of study designed for student to take 2 courses per term. Students will be accepted into a cohort and progress through the program with their cohort group.
First Term:
N701 Applied Biostatistics and Epidemiology (4-0)
N702 Evidence Based Practice I (3-0)
Second Term:
N703 Evidence Based Practice II (3-0)
N704 Leadership and Organizational Theory (3-0)
Third Term:
N705 Ethics and Health Care Policy (3-0)
N706 Evidence Based Practice and Information Technology (3-0)
Fourth Term:
N711 Clinical Practicum I (0-4)
N707 The Nurse as Educator (2-0)
Fifth Term:
N712 Clinical Practicum II (0-4)
N720 Capstone Project (4-0)
Total 25 Didactic Credits + 8 Clinical Credits ( 360 hours) = 33