Creating an Online Library for DNP Project Reports

Ready access to DNP Project Reports can aid students and their faculty advisors in a variety of ways including by generating new project ideas and providing models for writing the various sections of the report.  An online library of DNP Project Reports would allow ready access.  Although there are national repositories of DNP projects, we determined that it would be beneficial to create our own internal online library since this would provide examples of DNP Projects completed at our university.    

To better ensure that our online DNP Project Library would meet the needs and expectations of students and faculty, their input was sought regarding the structure and search options.  Ten faculty members with expertise in guiding DNP Projects were consulted to generate a list of project types within our school.  The faculty and student representatives of the DNP curriculum committee also provided input.  Two separate online surveys collected input from over 75 students.  One survey was designed to provide input regarding the overall organization of the online library and the other to assist in the structuring of the search capabilities.  The survey data were analyzed using qualitative methods to identify categories that best captured the   

The online library of DNP Project Reports used Microsoft SharePoint software, selected for its strong search capabilities.  Based on the input received, specialty (role and population focus) provides the overall organization of the library. The advantages of using specialty as the basis for organizing the library are:  (a) Easy for students and faculty to find examples from a given specialty; (b) Specialties are distinct entities; and (c) Every DNP student has a specialty.  The Final Report library user may search the contents of the library using terms to describe the age group or time period (e.g., infant, adult, perinatal); the content or topic focus (e.g., sleep, infectious disease, depression, health promotion); and project type or methods (e.g., quality improvement, program development, community-based participatory research). 

DNP students use a template to upload their completed DNP Project Reports.   The template directs the students to include information to assist searches.