Plan of Study and Expectations
This program can be completed in as few as 32 credit hours. Additional clinical and project credits may be required to meet program outcomes. The time to completion of the program varies depending on the length of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project.
Plan of Study
The student plan of study requires 1,000 post-baccalaureate (BSN) hours of precepted clinical experience. A minimum of 300 precepted DNP Clinical Immersion hours and 100 DNP Project hours must be earned at the DNP level in this program, though more may be required depending on a gap analysis of post-BSN hours that students have completed. Many traditional Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) programs require 500 hours of precepted clinical advanced nursing practice. Previous precepted master’s level clinical hours, which must be verified, evaluated, and approved by the program director and Associate Dean of Academics, may be included in the required hours to complete the DNP.
DNP Project
The program includes implementation of a DNP Project. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), doctoral education is distinguished by the completion of a specific project that demonstrates synthesis of the student’s work and lays the groundwork for future clinical scholarly work directed at improving health or organizational outcomes in the area of focus. The DNP curriculum primarily involves mastery of an advanced specialty within nursing practice and methods of practice improvement and change. The DNP Project is used to demonstrate mastery of the DNP curricular content.
Guided by faculty and with assistance of a consultant in the area of interest, the DNP Project demonstrates the student’s ability to identify a practice or system-related problem through clinical immersion, to synthesize and critically appraise the evidence related to addressing that practice problem, to negotiate within the system, to implement evidence-based change within an organization, to implement that change, and to systematically measure the results of the practice or system-related change initiative. The DNP Project documents outcomes of the student’s educational experiences and summarizes the student’s growth in knowledge and expertise. The DNP Project experience serves as a foundation for leadership in future scholarly practice within the clinical setting.
Modalities of Learning
Throughout the curriculum, students are guided in the processes of self-development aimed at pursuing excellence in scholarly, clinical, and professional endeavors. Courses are offered via web-based modalities in asynchronous and synchronous formats. The student should communicate with the course coordinator when determining what courses are offered synchronously or asynchronously. Students should assume that they will be assigned to a regular day and time for the course offering unless told otherwise. Class attendance and participation are expectations in this program.
The University and WVU School of Nursing strongly recommend students employed in full-time work should enroll for no more than six hours of doctoral level course work at any time.
Additional student information can also be found in our Student Handbook.