Doctor of Nursing Practice Program Overview


Overview
Program Outcomes
Admission Requirements
Application Requirements
Curriculum Plan
DNP Core Courses
DNP Core Course Descriptions
Accreditation
Additional Information

Overview

In Spring, 2011, Kent State University College of Nursing began offering the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, which prepares advanced practice nurses to lead in applying research evidence to clinical practice, and contribute to improved health care outcomes via direct practice, policy change, systems evaluation, and practice scholarship. Program emphasis is on the interplay among advances in scientific knowledge, technology, and information systems in support of quality patient care outcomes and their impact on human health.

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), offering an advanced practice nursing program at the doctoral level serves as a   “...response to changes in health care delivery and emerging health care needs.  It supports advanced practice nurses in securing “… the knowledge required to provide leadership in the discipline of nursing,†a discipline that is complex and rapidly changing.

The AACN recommends that all entry-level advanced practice educational programs be transitioned from the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree to the DNP degree by the year 2015.  KSU currently has 12 advanced practice MSN concentrations, all of which will transition to the DNP by that time. Presently, the program will be offered part-time to Advanced Practice MSN graduates.  It will incorporate 37 didactic credit hours, 540 clinical hours, and a DNP scholarly project.

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Program Outcomes

Graduates of the program will be able to:

  • Use appropriate theories and concepts to identify health-related phenomena of interest
  • Design and deliver interventions that can withstand scientific analysis
  • Evaluate health care delivery and nursing practices using sound evaluation principles
  • Use evaluation and other methods to account for quality of care and patient safety for focus populations
  • Critically appraise and/or use sources informing best evidence, i.e. epidemiology, statistics, health data, and/or methodologies 
  • Deliver and evaluate care processes and outcomes based on best evidence
  • Analyze and define critical choices among health care technologies and information systems toward the betterment of care processes and outcomes
  • Understand the dynamics of health care policy and financing at the organizational and national levels
  • Provide or assist in the leadership of collaborative, inter-professional teams in health care delivery

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    Admission Requirements (for Post-MSN Applicants)

  • Graduation with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale from a CCNE or NLNAC accredited Advanced Practice MSN program.
  • Current active unrestricted RN license from the state where they will practice and current national APRN certification.
  • Clinical experience as a registered nurse (length of experience may be determined by the study concentration)

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    Application Requirements

  • Online application http://www.kent.edu/admissions/apply/graduate/index.cfm  
    • Include in your application, as an attachment, an essay delineating your career leadership goals and plans for your DNP scholarly study project. In the essay, lucidly address the specific position of leadership (e.g., program director, legislator, professor) which you plan to attain within 3-5 years after completing the DNP program. Identify a specific focus or need in the health care or educational services and/or policies that you would address within your stated role. This focus or need should be applicable to health care and the educational issues, both now and in the future. The identified topic would be the foundation for your DNP scholarly project. The scope of this DNP scholarly project should be comprehensive enough to address the specific focus or need as it applies across, for example, a system, organization, region or population. This essay is an integral component of the application and will serve as the framework for the interview with a faculty member.
  • Application fee.
  • Transcripts from each university where nine or more credit hours were earned.
  • Three letters of reference from healthcare professionals who can address the applicant’s potential to succeed in the DNP graduate program.
  • Signed record or copy of clinical hours record from previous program on the University's letterhead.
  • CV (Curriculum Vitae)
  • A sample of written work that indicates the logic and writing skills of the applicant, for example, by an essay, term paper, theses, published article, or professional report. In lieu of such documents, the applicant may submit a four to five page, current APA-formatted, essay pertaining to "The history of the Doctor of Nursing Practice".
  • An interview, by phone or in person, with DNP faculty may be requested following review of the application.

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    Curriculum Plan

    Sample Part-Time Curriculum Plan

    Post MSN with Advanced Practice Nursing Specialty DNP

    Fall 1
         		Cr Hr
         		Spring 1
         		Cr H
    Adv Healthcare Statistics
    Adv. Leadership in Healthcare     		3
    3     		Synthesis and Analysis of Evidence for Adv Nsg Practice
    Information Mgmt in Healthcare     		3
    3
    Total 6 Total 6
    Fall 2
         		Cr Hr Spring 2
         		Cr Hr
    Genomics
    Public Health Epidemiology     		3
    3     		Program Evaluation in Nursing
    Clinical Scholar I     		3
    3(2-1, 90 clin hrs.)
    Total 6 Total 6
    Fall 3
         		Cr Hr
         		Spring 3
         		Cr Hr
    DNP Scholarly Study Project I
    Clinical Scholar II     		3
    4(2-2, 180 clin hrs.)     		DNP Scholarly Study Project I
    Clinical Scholar Practicum     		3
    3 (270 clin hrs.)
    Total 7 Total 6

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    DNP Core Courses

    DNP core courses (37 semester credit hours) are:

    1. Advanced Healthcare Statistics I 3
    2. Advanced Leadership in Healthcare 3
    3. Synthesis and Application of Evidence for Advanced Practice Nursing 3
    4. Fundamentals of Public Health Epidemiology 3
    5. Clinical Analytics *
    		 3
    6. Advanced Seminar in Genomics and Health 3
    7. Public Health Programs: Planning, Implementation and Evaluation**
    		 3
    8. Clinical Scholar I 3
    9. Clinical Scholar II 4
    10. Clinical Scholar Practicum 3
    11. DNP Scholarly Study Project 6

    DNP Core Course Descriptions

  • KSU  NURS70727 ADVANCED HEALTHCARE STATISTICS  3 cr. hr. (Note: course is part of the joint PhD in Nursing curriculum, and although taught either at KSU, students register at their university of record) In-depth examination of descriptive statistics, correlation, regression, multiple regression sets, scaling, nonlinear transformation, missing data, and interactive effects; including initial manipulation of data, integrating understanding of inference and probability. Doctoral standing or special approval from department.
  • NURS70640 ADVANCED LEADERSHIP IN HEALTHCARE   3 cr. hr. Advanced competencies of the doctoral-prepared advanced practice nurse for transformational interprofessional leadership in healthcare to improve patient and population health outcomes are addressed. Five key leadership competencies including creating and leading change; self-knowledge; strategic vision; interpersonal communication; and organizational effectiveness are presented with examples and case studies. Transcending themes of ethics, research, interprofessional collaboration, creativity, and insuring accountability are addressed throughout the course. Students conduct a self-assessment, and develop and implement individualized action plans for advanced competency in interprofessional healthcare leadership. Doctoral standing or special approval from department.
  • NURS70602 SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATION OF EVIDENCE FOR ADVANCED NURSING PRACTICE   3 cr. hr. Focus of course is on the concepts, models, and methods for implementation of evidence-based nursing practice at both individual clinician and system levels.  Competencies for the identification, analysis, synthesis, and application of evidence relevant to nursing and health care practice are developed.  Factors that facilitate and impede implementing and sustaining evidence-based practice are considered. Students learn skills necessary for identification of clinical problems in advanced practice nursing and promoting adoption and implementation of evidence-based solutions to promote patient health outcomes.  Prerequisite: KSU/UA  NURS70727/8200:607
  • EPI 52017 FUNDAMENTALS OF PUBLIC HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGY   3 cr. hr. Introduces principles, methods, and application of epidemiology.  Covers the history of epidemiology, concepts of disease causation and prevention, measures of disease frequency and excessive risk, epidemiologic study designs, causal inference, outbreak investigation and screening.  Provides experience with calculation of rate standardization, measures of disease frequency, association, and impact, and sensitivity and specificity of screening tests.  Highlights the applications of epidemiology to the understanding of disease etiology, transmission, pathogenesis, and prevention, evaluation, and public policy development.   Doctoral standing or special approval from nursing.
  • IAKM 60411 CLINICAL ANALYTICS   3 cr. hr.
    The use of well-defined and well-integrated clinical analytics throughout the healthcare value chain can be transformative. Through careful implementation of health analytics, hospitals can transform unwieldy amalgamations of data into information that can: improve patient outcomes, increase safety , enhance operational efficiency and support public health. Given the immense size of the data challenge, the distinctness and geographic spread of many healthcare-related activities, and the fact that so many healthcare activities are conducted by different entities which must interact with each other, there is really no other way to provide operations management tools necessary to deliver personalized medicine and to control spiraling costs. Since clinical analytics is an immature discipline, we carefully examine the practices of those institutions who are standard setters in the industry. Prerequisite: graduate standing.
  • HPM 53007 PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMS: PLANNING, IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION   3 cr. hr.   
    Overview of developing, implementing and evaluating public health programs. Examines how public health programs can target different levels within a population, different determinants of health and strategies and interventions. Prerequisite: graduate standing.
  • NURS 70600 CLINICAL SCHOLAR I    3 cr. hr. (2 credit seminar; 1 credit clinical: 90 hrs.)
    First of two seminar courses accompanied by clinical practice with expert preceptors.  Focus is on transitioning to the clinical scholar leader role within an identified area of advanced nursing practice. Emphasis is placed on the epistemology underlying advanced nursing practice and the integration of theoretical frameworks and evidence-based practice principles in achieving optimal health outcomes for individuals and groups. Comprises 2 didactic content hours per week and a clinical practicum of 7 hours per week. Prerequisite:NURS 60601 and doctoral standing or special approval from department.
  • NURS 70610 CLINICAL SCHOLAR II   4 cr. hr. (2 cr. seminar; 2 cr. clinical: 180 hrs.)
    The focus of this second seminar course is on translating and integrating theory and scientific evidence into the clinical work of the advanced practice nurse. Culturally-aware approaches are developed to resolve a healthcare issue using theoretic models and principles of evidence-based practice to design innovative interventions. Comprises 2 didactic content hours per week and a clinical practicum of 14 hours per week. Prerequisite: NURS 70600 and NURS 70602.
  • NURS 70692 CLINICAL SCHOLAR PRACTICUM   3 cr. hr. (3 cr. hr. clinical: 270 hrs.)
    Synthesis of components of clinical scholar leader role comprises this practicum. Students apply advanced leadership and clinical scholarship skills to developing and evaluating approaches to healthcare problems in a practicum setting. Prerequisite: NURS 70610; Pre/Co-requisite: NURS 70640.
  • NURS 76199 DNP SCHOLARLY STUDY PROJECT I   2-6 cr. hr.
    Faculty and preceptor-directed project that contributes to nursing practice knowledge.  Culminates in an oral defense and a publishable manuscript. DNP scholarly study project students must register for a total of 6 hours, 2 to 6 hours in a single semester, distributed over three semesters if desired. S/U grading; IP permissible. Prerequisite: NURS 70600; Co-requisite: NURS 70610.
  • NURS 76299 DNP SCHOLARLY STUDY PROJECT  II   1-3 cr. hr.
    DNP scholarly study project students must continue registration until all degree requirements are met. S/U grading; IP permissible. Prerequisite: KSU: NURS 76100.

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    Accreditation

    The College of Nursing is seeking accreditation for the DNP from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 530, Washington, DC 20036-1120. Phone: (202) 887-6791; www.aacn.nche.edu.

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    Additional Information

    For additional information, please call 330-672-2234 or 330-672-8761 Or contact:

    Dr. Connie S. Tezie, DNP, CNP, Program Director ctezie1@kent.edu
    Dr. Gail Bromley, gbromley@kent.edu
    Terrie Adams, tadams27@kent.edu

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