Doctor of Nursing Practice

About This Program

Purpose

Today’s advanced practice nurses need to have the forward-thinking clinical expertise and leadership skills at their command to promote the application and implementation of evidence-based practices that are linked to original scientific research. Accomplishing this goal means linking knowledge about health policy, informatics, and business practices to care of individual clients, families and communities. The Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) at Wilmington University is the terminal degree to produce the most 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:

1. Evaluate the scientific underpinnings in clinical practice.
2. Apply organizational and system leadership skills to affect systemic changes in thinking and development of quality improvement activities to improve clinical outcomes.
3. Use analytic methods to critically appraise existing literature and other evidence that translates into the application and evaluation of new science into practice improvements.
4. Appraise and utilize current information systems and technologies to improve health care.
5. Analyze and advocate for health care policies that provide equitable health care and social justice to populations at risk.
6. Function as a collaborative team member to facilitate clinical prevention activities to promote population health.
7. Synthesize and utilize data to promote the highest quality of care.
8. Demonstrate advanced levels of clinical judgment, systems thinking, and accountability in selecting, implementing, and evaluating care.

Program Design

The Doctor of Nursing Practice program is designed to combine theory, practice, and inquiry to enhance students’ interpretation and use of evidence based practice to influence the health care system. The 24-credit D.N.P. core is designed to build upon graduate nursing education in the areas of population health, quality improvement, and systems leadership, among other key areas. These core courses are delivered by the Wilmington University block format.

The D.N.P. is a rigorous, practice-leadership focused degree. Clinical practicum experience affords post-graduate students the opportunity to synthesize and utilize theory and data to promote the highest quality of care at the advanced level of professional nursing practice. Students will complete five hundred (500) self-directed post-graduate experiential scholarship hours that expand on current knowledge above the master’s level of advanced practice. Faculty will provide oversight and guidance to these self-directed experiences.

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 an indirect practicum over three semesters with advisement until project completion. Students must be raised to candidacy before beginning this phase of the program. This doctoral project itself totals 12 credit hours.

The DNP program is delivered in two ways, either a modified hybrid format or 100% online. The modified hybrid consists of classroom meetings the first weekend and last weekend of the Core DNP classes. For the DNP Project students may need to meet initially at the beginning, but definitely at the end, to present their culminating work. The admission for this group is annual in September. The online students will only need to come to campus at the end of the program to present their work. The admission for this group is annual in January.

D.N.P. Project

The 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. The project begins in DNP 8000 and culminates with completion in DNP 8002. A majority of the experiential hours is devoted to the doctoral project; however, other courses may have practicum related experiences. The final formal scholarly document details the nature and scope of the project, and provides a method of communication with the health care world. Students are encouraged to individualize their project toward their career focus as a D.N.P.

Candidacy for the D.N.P. program requires the completion of the graduate admission process, a grade point average of 3.0, and completion of the D.N.P. core (24 credit hours), including 56 experiential hours. 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 supervisory committee member(s) will be mutually agreed upon between the student and faculty advisor.

Qualifications for the Degree

To qualify for the Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) degree, a student must satisfactorily complete the 33-credit post-graduate program. The student must: (1) maintain a minimum 3.0 grade point average, (2) show evidence of dissemination of scholarly work, (3) obtain approval of the student’s D.N.P. project; and (4) successfully complete and present the doctoral project. These requirements must be completed within seven years of matriculation into the program. A petition for reinstatement is necessary if the program is not completed within a seven-year period.

Admission

Please refer to “The Graduate Admissions Process” section for general graduate admission information. For consideration and admission to the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, all applicants must satisfactorily submit the following:

1. Completed Wilmington University graduate (D.N.P.) application accompanied by a non-refundable application fee.
2. Official transcripts from an accredited college or university verifying completion of a bachelor’s and master’s degree which reflect nursing. Send official transcript(s) directly to Wilmington University Graduate Admissions Office from the identified college or university.
3. GPA 3.0 or higher at the graduate level.
4. Copy of a current Professional Resumé or Curriculum Vitae.
5. Proof of current unencumbered RN license, and unencumbered APRN license.
6. Two statements of recommendation must be submitted from (1) an immediate supervisor and (1) professional colleague or academic professor. Personal recommendations are discouraged. Submit the recommendation letters directly to the Office of Graduate Admissions.
7. Complete submission of Statement of Goals
8. Documentation of Clinical Experience (as defined below):

The D.N.P. is a clinical doctorate requiring 1000 post-baccalaureate clinical hours as delineated in The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (AACN, 2006). The 1000 post-baccalaureate clinical hours must be completed in a health care setting prior to doctoral degree conferral.

Five hundred (500) of the 1000 post-baccalaureate clinical hours must be completed prior to enrollment in the Wilmington University post-master’s D.N.P. program. The remaining 500 supervised hours will be completed while enrolled in the D.N.P. program.

Therefore, each applicant is required to provide accurate and sufficient evidence describing how the 500 post-baccalaureate clinical hours were earned. This must be completed prior to entering into the Wilmington University D.N.P. program. Applicants can select and prepare one of the following in support of validating 500 post-baccalaureate clinical hours:

1. Validation by Advanced Practice Certification

   Applicants who have earned an advanced practice certification (e.g. Nurse Practitioner [NP], Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists [CRNA], Certified Nurse Specialist [CNS], and Certified Nurse Midwife [CNM]) must provide a copy of their current national certification as evidence of having completed 500 supervised clinical hours since completing a baccalaureate nursing education program.

2. Validation by Official Graduate Transcript

   Applicants who have not yet earned an advanced practice certification, but have completed the graduate degree, must provide a thorough description of the supervised clinical/practicum hours completed while enrolled in an NP, CRNA, CNS, or CNM program as validated by an official transcript.

   Acceptable descriptions include any of the following:

  1)  Course syllabi that demonstrate the number of clinical hours required in each course,

  2)  Official clinical logs which record the clinical hours in each course,

  3)  An official letter from the graduate nursing program director, and/ or

  4)  An official letter from the mentor who supervised the required clinical hours.

   3.  Validation by Professional Portfolio

Although we welcome all other strong applicants, those applicants who do not have a certification or did not earn 500 clinical practicum hours in their graduate nursing program must provide evidence of 500 hours in the form of a professional portfolio describing relevant, clinical projects.

Examples of project documents are welcome, as well as any other supporting documentation that helps the admission committee understand why the applicant’s portfolio should be considered as appropriate evidence for the required 500 supervised hours.