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Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Location: Online
Start term: Fall, Spring, Summer

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences offers the opportunity for licensed/certified advanced practice nurses to gain the knowledge, skills, and aptitude to directly impact healthcare. The practice-focused DNP terminal degree in nursing builds on evidence-based knowledge obtained in previous nursing degrees and utilizes a focus on organization and systems leadership to prepare nurses to deliver innovative direct care, explore opportunities for quality improvement, improve diverse population patient outcomes, and advocate for policy change.

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree is designed for advanced practice registered nurses (APRN’s) looking to reach the highest level of the nursing profession.

Unique Interprofessional Education Opportunities

Customize your degree by completing three elective courses in areas that will enhance your future role. Students choose from doctoral-level courses within the School of Nursing, or from a variety of doctoral degree programs within our health sciences university, including pharmacy, healthcare business, public health, healthcare informatics, PA studies, and acupuncture. Elective courses include regulatory affairs and health policy, nursing education, global healthcare management, public health, and pain management.

This flexibility to customize the degree empowers students to gain specialized knowledge in a variety of fields, enhancing and diversifying their degree, and ultimately preparing them to meet the challenges of today’s integrated healthcare field.

Scholarly Project

As part of the program, students engage in rigorous scholarly work to synthesize knowledge from the program’s core and specialty courses, along with the immersion clinical experience, to create a meaningful project that is reviewed by an academic committee. This scholarly project is based on an advanced nursing practice immersion experience, which is designed to address a nursing or healthcare problem with the goal of improving practice or healthcare outcomes. The scholarly project includes proposal, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based practice on a variety of initiatives, including practice change, quality improvement, health promotion/disease prevention, community outreach, or policy analysis.

Study Online

The DNP program is offered online, allowing students to balance career advancement with the rest of their busy lives. Designed for working nurses, the DNP program provides an online pathway for nurses to enhance their current practice and expand future opportunities. The format of this part-time program allows students to continue working full-time while advancing their education, and uses creative teaching and learning approaches, in order to deliver high quality distance education.

  • Earned master's in nursing in an advanced nursing practice specialty from a nationally accredited CCNE or NLNAC program.
  • Certification as an advanced practice nurse (FNP, AGPCNP, AGACNP, ANP, PNP, GNP, ACNP, PMHNP, Nurse Midwife, Nurse Anesthetist, or CNS)
  • A minimum of two years of practice as an APRN
  • GPA 3.5 or above on a 4.0 scale
  • Resume or CV
  • Current licensure as a registered nurse in the state in which practice will occur
  • Graduate research methods course
  • Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions
  • Two letters of reference: One pertaining to academic ability or professional competence and a second letter referring to personal character
  • Personal statement
  • Zoom interview will be a part of the admission process
  • Students are required to complete 1,000 clinical hours as part of DNP degree completion. A maximum of 500 hours of preceptor-supervised direct care clinical hours earned from your Master's degree may be applied to this requirement. Upon acceptance, you will be provided with the next steps to submitting your existing preceptor-supervised direct care clinical hours for consideration to be applied to the program requirement.

The DNP program’s innovative curriculum builds the foundation of graduate-level nursing knowledge, and expands the abilities and skills focused on in master’s-level work.

COURSE TITLE SEMESTER HOURS

Year I: Semester I
NUR 900 Clinical DNP Practice Foundations 3
NUR 905 Organizational and System Leadership for Quality Improvement 3
Total Credits/Semester    6

Year I: Semester II
Elective I 3
NUR 910 Methods for Evidence-Based Practice 3
Total Credits/Semester
    6

Year I: Semester III
NUR 915
 Health Care Policy and Advocacy from Local to Global Issues
3
NUR 920 Concepts in Population Health 3
Total Credits/Semester
    6

Year II: Semester IV
  Elective II  3
NUR 925 Transforming Nursing and Healthcare through
Knowledge Management and Technology 		3
NUR 930 Research Translation I 3
Total Credits/Semester
    9

Year II: Semester V
NUR 931 Research Translation II 3
Elective III 3
Total Credits/Semester
    6

Year II: Semester VI
NUR 933 Research Translation III 3
Total Credits/Semester
    

Total credits to complete degree requirements: 36 semester hours

MCPHS accepts nursing students into its programs from the following states:

Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington D.C., West Virginia

Admission into a nursing program is dependent on program availability in the state where the student is physically located at the time of matriculation. If a student moves to a different state after matriculation, continuation within the program will depend on the availability of the program within the new state where the student is physically present. It is the student's responsibility to notify the University of a change in physical presence. Program availability is subject to change.