Infusing the ‘Practice' in the Practice Doctorate

Our university is a private, research institution located in the heart of the city and a world leader in experiential education. The U.S. News & World Reporthas repeatedly ranked it among the top universities that combine classroom learning with real-world experience. Since its inception in 1898, the university has been guided by the conviction to prepare students for useful, productive and satisfying lives through combining excellent academic preparation with an experiential education model.

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program presented yet another opportunity to design a curriculum that blends theoretical concepts with reality-based practice.  This has been a key ingredient of the educational philosophy of our Master of Science (MS) advanced practice nursing programs. The purpose of this presentation is to describe our DNP program, a 30-semester hour post MS online hybrid format offered in the executive model. It is designed as a complement to the current MS programs with the goal to fill the gap in meeting the Essentials of Doctoral Education(2006) with a future goal of a seamless transition to a post baccalaureate model.

Prior to culminating in a scholarly capstone sequence, each course offers assignments that are designed to be a combination of academic and practice activities aimed to facilitate the doctoral student’s ability to accrue new skills and competencies.  Within each course, students may opt to participate in several leadership immersion activities to fulfill the scholarly practice hour requirement. Students document the 500 scholarly practice hours through the use of a competency based electronic portfolio, delineating the DNP Essentials, Institute of Medicine (IOM) Core Competencies (2003) and Core Competencies for Interprofessional Educational Collaborative Practice (IPEC)  (2011), as well as any relevant specialty competencies.

Recognizing that reality based practice is key to achievement of positive outcomes, the faculty engage students and the broader community in a variety of creative and innovative opportunities to promote acquisition of identified learning outcomes. Students obtained actual experience in needed skills and competencies within a mentored structured environment.  Examples are provided. Strategies for future development are explored. Outcome evaluation, future plans and implications for DNP education are presented.