Doctor of Nursing Practice

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program is designed to prepare graduates in advanced practice nursing specialties for careers in clinical practice with diverse populations, organizational and systems leadership in health care systems, and clinical nursing education in professional nursing programs. The program produces advanced practice nurses with the skills to apply principles of population health outcomes and evidence-based practice to clinical situations as interprofessional team members for improvement and transformation of patient care. Graduates are leaders with expert knowledge of complex health problems who will lead and improve nursing practice in Worcester, the commonwealth, and beyond.

The DNP program provides students with advanced practice nursing leadership experiences throughout their course of study. The core and specialty coursework meets the standards established by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The guidelines developed by the American Nurses Association including the Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses, Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice, and Nursing’s Social Policy Statement are integrated into the curricula. The DNP program has a strong focus on interprofessional partnerships with the UMW School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Commonwealth Medicine, UMass Correctional Health, UMass Memorial Health Care and the greater Central Massachusetts community.

Summary of Study

The DNP program admits students with a master’s degree in nursing as a nurse practitioner. The program of study focuses on theory courses and residency experiences and represents a 40-credit curriculum: 22 credits of core courses including epidemiology, informatics, health policy, organizational systems, research and theory; and 18 specialty credits including residency courses, capstone project courses, and electives. Students are also required to successfully complete a professional portfolio. The DNP program is an academically challenging one; therefore, full-time work while in the program is not recommended.

Residency

The focus of the DNP residency courses is the development and refinement of leadership skills. Experiences enhance each student’s ability to apply theories, standards of practice and evidence-based research findings to the care of increasingly complex patients, leading to improved practice and health care delivery. Each student works with his/her faculty advisor to select a residency practicum site that facilitates the development of leadership skills and completion of the capstone project.

DNP Capstone Project

Each Doctor of Nursing Practice student is required to lead and complete a capstone project that translates research into clinical practice. No student is exempt from this requirement. The capstone project includes two courses or six credits for the development, implementation and evaluation of the project. The student conducts the capstone project under the mentorship of his/her faculty advisor. Each student is expected to do a DNP Capstone Presentation and to submit a scholarly paper to a peer-reviewed journal.

Professional DNP Portfolio

The focus of the professional DNP portfolio is to demonstrate the attainment of the DNP competencies established by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties through formative and summative documentation. Each student must successfully meet the requirements of their DNP Professional Portfolio prior to completing the DNP program.

Continuous Enrollment

Doctoral students are required to maintain continuous enrollment each semester, including the summer semester, until the program is completed. Students must pay the continuous program fee each semester if they have completed their course work but are still working on their capstone project. Failure to be properly enrolled will result in the student being withdrawn from the program.