Doctor of Nursing Practice
About This Program
Purpose
Nurses in advanced practice roles need to have forward-thinking clinical expertise and leadership skills at their command to promote the application and implementation of evidence-based practices linked to original scientific research. Accomplishing this goal requires linking health policy, informatics, population health, and business practices to the care of individual clients, families, and communities. The Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) at Wilmington University is a terminal degree designed to produce competent advanced nurse clinicians to meet the nation’s increasingly complex health care needs.
Program Competencies
Foundational outcome competencies for the D.N.P. program are derived from The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (AACN, 2006). Upon completion of the Doctor in Nursing Practice (D.N.P.), graduates will:
- Evaluate the scientific underpinnings in clinical practice.
- Apply organizational and system leadership skills to affect systemic changes in thinking and development of quality improvement activities to improve clinical outcomes.
- Use analytic methods to critically appraise existing literature and other evidence that translates into the application and evaluation of new science into practice improvements.
- Appraise and utilize current information systems and technologies to improve health care.
- Analyze and advocate for health care policies that provide equitable health care and social justice to populations at risk.
- Function as a collaborative team member to facilitate clinical prevention activities to promote population health.
- Synthesize and utilize data to promote the highest quality of care.
- Demonstrate advanced levels of clinical judgment, systems thinking, and accountability in selecting, implementing, and evaluating care.
Program Design
WilmU's Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program delivers an innovative curriculum emphasizing healthcare engineering and interdisciplinary collaboration among clinicians, educators, health systems, community leaders, and policy makers. Students learn to utilize both theory and evidence-based data to promote the highest level of professional nursing practice.
To best serve working nurse professionals, WilmU offers flexible schedules that enable students to balance work, personal, and education commitments. The DNP program can be completed in 28 months, culminating with a 9-credit doctoral project. Core courses are offered in seven-week blocks, experiential engagement courses for non-APRNs are offered in 15-week semesters, and DNP Project courses are offered in 15-week semesters.
Interested candidates must have a master's degree with current national board certification as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) or be actively employed in an area of advanced nursing practice (i.e. informatics, executive leadership, health policy, or population health). National board certification (i.e. NEA-BC, CPHIMS) for non-APRNs is recommended, but not required.
The D.N.P. is a rigorous, practice-leadership focused degree. Experiential academic experiences afford students the opportunity to synthesize and utilize theory and research data to promote the highest quality of care at an advanced level of professional nursing practice. Students currently licensed as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse will complete five hundred (500) experiential engagement hours aligned with the AACN D.N.P. Essentials. Non-APRN students will complete one thousand (1,000) experiential engagement hours. Doctoral faculty provide oversight and guidance while students work one-on-one with an experiential engagement mentor.
The D.N.P. program exists within a framework of professional, academic rigor that culminates with the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a defined doctoral project. The D.N.P. project is nine-credit experiential engagement that is offered over three semesters wherein students work closely with a faculty advisor.
The D.N.P. program is offered 100% online to provide the most flexibility for students. However, two optional online synchronous course meetings are available during each course to facilitate student and faculty interaction. There are no on campus residency requirements and students have the option to present their final doctoral project virtually or on campus.
Cohorts begin every Spring and Fall. Summer cohorts are offered based on student interest.
Program Requirements
D.N.P. Core (24 credits)
| DNP 7000 | Bioethics for Advanced Practice Nursing | 3 |
| DNP 7101 | Epidemiology in Advanced Practice | 3 |
| DNP 7102 | Prevention and Population Health I | 3 |
| DNP 7103 | Prevention and Population Health II | 3 |
| DNP 7104 | Politics and Policy in the Health Care System | 3 |
| DNP 7105 | Health Care Economics and the Business of Practice | 3 |
| DNP 7106 | Informatics in Health Care | 3 |
| DNP 7107 | Applied Evidence-Based Practice | 3 |
DNP 7102, DNP 7103: Includes experiential academic engagement hours (average of 28 hours per course).
D.N.P. Project (9 credits)
| DNP 8000 | Doctor in Nursing Practice Project I | 3 |
| DNP 8001 | Doctor in Nursing Practice Project II | 3 |
| DNP 8002 | Doctor in Nursing Practice Project III | 3 |
DNP 8000, DNP 8001, DNP 8002: Includes experiential academic engagement hours (average of 148 hours per course, totaling 500 hours for the program).
Possible Course Sequence
Fall Admission
Fall
Block One
| DNP 7000 | Bioethics for Advanced Practice Nursing | 3 |
Block Two
| DNP 7101 | Epidemiology in Advanced Practice | 3 |
Spring
Block One
| DNP 7102 | Prevention and Population Health I | 3 |
Block Two
| DNP 7103 | Prevention and Population Health II | 3 |
Summer
Block One
| DNP 7104 | Politics and Policy in the Health Care System | 3 |
Block Two
| DNP 7105 | Health Care Economics and the Business of Practice | 3 |
Year Two
Fall
Block One
Block Two
| DNP 7107 | Applied Evidence-Based Practice | 3 |
Spring
Semester
| DNP 8000 | Doctor in Nursing Practice Project I | 3 |
Summer
Semester
| DNP 8001 | Doctor in Nursing Practice Project II | 3 |
Year Three
Fall
Semester
| DNP 8002 | Doctor in Nursing Practice Project III | 3 |
Any student who does not complete the project by the end of DNP 8002 continues enrollment in DNP 8004 in the next semester.
Spring Admission
Spring
Block One
| DNP 7000 | Bioethics for Advanced Practice Nursing | 3 |
Block Two
| DNP 7101 | Epidemiology in Advanced Practice | 3 |
Summer
Block One
| DNP 7102 | Prevention and Population Health I | 3 |
Block Two
| DNP 7103 | Prevention and Population Health II | 3 |
Fall
Block One
| DNP 7104 | Politics and Policy in the Health Care System | 3 |
Block Two
| DNP 7105 | Health Care Economics and the Business of Practice | 3 |
Year Two
Spring
Block One
Block Two
| DNP 7107 | Applied Evidence-Based Practice | 3 |
Summer
Semester
| DNP 8000 | Doctor in Nursing Practice Project I | 3 |
Fall
Semester
| DNP 8001 | Doctor in Nursing Practice Project II | 3 |
Year Three
Spring
Semester
| DNP 8002 | Doctor in Nursing Practice Project III | 3 |
Any student who does not complete the project by the end of DNP 8002 continues enrollment in DNP 8004 in the next semester.
D.N.P. Project
The D.N.P. project highlights the scholarly contribution of doctoral level advanced practice nursing to the ever-changing landscape of health care. Within the framework of evidence-based practice, students identify a pertinent topic to further examine. The project begins in DNP 8000 and culminates with completion in DNP 8002. A majority of the experiential hours are devoted to the doctoral project; however, other courses may incorporate experiential academic engagement hours. The final formal scholarly document details the nature and scope of the project, and requires that students disseminate their findings to the healthcare community. Students are encouraged to individualize their project toward their career focus as a D.N.P. prepared nurse.
Doctoral candidacy requires completion of the graduate admission process, a grade point average of 3.0 or greater, and completion of all D.N.P. core courses (24 credits for APRNs and 36 credits for non-APRNs). Students will be assigned to a D.N.P. faculty advisor who will serve as the D.N.P. Project Chair, providing guidance and advice throughout the three sequential semesters of project completion. The remaining D.N.P. project team will be mutually agreed upon between the student and faculty advisor.