Nursing: Doctor of Nursing Practice, D.N.P.

DNP Program Requirements

Completion of Program

All doctoral students shall complete all degree requirements for the DNP within a ten-year limit. All doctoral course work and the successful defense of the translational project must be completed within ten years.

DNP Qualifying Examination

The DNP Qualifying Examination will be the student’s successful defense of the DNP Translational Project Proposal. The faculty will determine if a student is prepared and competent to implement the proposed project. To be eligible to defend the project proposal, a student must have completed the first two semesters of the DNP program. The DNP Qualifying Examination/defense of proposal will be graded as approved, conditional approval with changes, or disapproved based on the student’s performance. The student’s DNP Translational Project Committee and the Graduate Academic Coordinator or DNP Coordinator will evaluate the student’s defense of the project proposal. The student must receive a majority approval or conditional approval at the time of the DNP Qualifying Examination/defense of proposal in order to progress in the program. If the student is not successful and the proposal is not approved, the student may repeat the DNP Qualifying Examination/project proposal defense once. If the student fails to receive an approval for the project proposal subsequent to the second attempt, the student may be dismissed from the DNP program.

Translational Project

The translational project in the DNP program demonstrates synthesis of the student’s work, lays the foundation for future scholarship, and relates to a specialized area in advance practice. The final translational project must benefit a group, population or community rather than an individual patient. The translational project proposal must be reviewed and approved by committee members. The culminating project reflects scholarly work that translates evidence into improved practice or health outcomes that affect aggregates. Each doctoral student will disseminate his or her final translational project in a public presentation that is approved by the student’s translational project committee. The student will further disseminate the final translational project in a publishable manuscript under the guidance of the student’s committee.