Nurse Practitioner Residency as Segue to DNP: A Collaboration between Mississippi University for Women and North Mississippi Medical Center

New graduate nurse practitioners (NPs) have been found to feel weak in preparation for practice in the clinical setting. Hart and Macnee (2007) found that of 562 NPs surveyed, only 10% believed that they were very well prepared for practice after completing their basic NP education, 38% felt that they were ‘‘generally well prepared;’’ but over half (51%) of the sample perceived that they were only somewhat or minimally prepared for practice.  Lukacs (1982) found that the average adjustment period for new NPs was 5.9 months and the first year of clinical practice was found to be instrumental in expanding the NP’s knowledge base.  Brown and Olshansky (1997) determined that most new NPs believed that “they had established a clear sense of themselves as NPs and functioned relatively smoothly in their advanced practice” by the end of their first year.  In Mississippi, new NPs are required to have 720 hours of monitored practice with another NP or medical doctor before they can practice unsupervised.  A one-year nurse practitioner residency program was developed between a university and hospital clinic system using the current family practice physician residency in place as a model and foundation for the NP residency.   During the NP residency the nurse practitioner earns a total of 1035 clinical hours. Credit for clinical hours earned during the NP residency may be used toward the clinical requirements for the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program.  By nurturing and fostering professional growth and leadership skills in new graduate nurse practitioners, the students will be better prepared to identify problems in implementations of practice, and follow through with capstone projects that improve population based health care in a dynamic health care system. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if a residency program for new graduate nurse practitioners would provide an effective transition from the classroom setting into evidenced based practice and encourage transition into a DNP program.