College of Graduate Health Studies: Student Corner

Doctor of Nursing Practice Outcomes

The DNP Program at ATSU uses The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education, 2021 as the foundation for the curriculum. This program prepares the graduate in the following domains: 

• Domain 1: Knowledge for Nursing Practice
• Domain 2: Person-Centered Care
• Domain 3: Population Heatlh
• Domain 4: Scholarship for Nursing Discipline
• Domain 5: Quality and Safety 
• Domain 6: Interprofessional Partnerships
• Domain 7: Systems-Based Practice
• Domain 8: Informatics and Healthcare Technologies
• Domain 9: Professionalism
• Domain 10: Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development

More information on these domains and the specific level-2 competencies and sub-competencies for the program are available from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Purpose of the DNP Degree and Project

The outcome of pursuing a DNP is to translate evidence into improved practice through initiatives, such as healthcare quality improvement projects, engagement in policy that impacts healthcare, practice innovations and advanced nursing leadership. Along with the use of evidence-based methods, consideration is given to quality, safety outcomes, cost-effectiveness, as well as financial impact, feasibility and sustainability. DNP project findings contribute to the profession by solving problems and providing direction for practice and leadership, which inform, focus, and guide future practice. 
Therefore, the purpose of the DNP Project is to develop and design an evidence-based project that focuses on improvement, enhancement, or advancement of practice management, organizational systems, or leadership through a quality improvement perspective. While each course in the curriculum provides content to assist in the broader understanding of advanced nursing practice, as expressed as strategic organizational leadership; the development, design, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of findings will be accomplished during the following courses: 

• DNPP 7600 Clinical Applications
• DNPP 8000 DNP Project Conceptualization
• DNPP 9100 DNP Project Design
• DNPP 9200 DNP Project Implementation
• DNPP 9300 DNP Project Evaluation 

The ATSU Nursing Program coursework, student professional experience, and DNP Project expectations and guidelines provide the framework to develop the DNP Project. The framework and learning expectations of the DNP Project and DNP courses are aligned with the DNP program outcomes, DNP curricular concepts, The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (AACN, 2006) and the mission, vision and values of A.T. Still University. 

The DNP Project Process

Completing the DNP project is a rigorous and iterative process. The steps involved are to identify a relevant and focused issue through effective gap analysis, conduct a literature search to illustrate evidence-based gaps in practice, develop a project to address the issue and finally evaluate the outcome of the project. The process includes the development of a significant problem statement based upon evidence; the review of applicable literature and evidence; the design of a quality improvement, policy development, or practice innovation project, including data collection with student interpretation of the project’s results; and dissemination of the findings. The DNP Project is not a research project, but instead is application and translation of new science through innovation of a practice change, development of policy, or implementation of a quality improvement project, occurring within a healthcare setting.  While the DNP Project generates evaluative data, which may be transferred to like contexts, it is not widely generalizable as compared to original research (AACN, 2015). 

The Final DNP Project 
(cited from https://www.aacnnursing.org/DNP/Tool-Kit ) 

“The Final DNP Project provides an opportunity for the student to integrate their new skills into practice and to demonstrate many of the principles of nursing scholarship and the competencies delineated in the DNP Essentials.  The integration of these new or refined skills improves outcomes through organizational/systems leadership, quality improvement processes, and the translation of evidence into practice. All DNP Projects should:

• Focus on a change that impacts healthcare outcomes either through direct or indirect care.
• Have systems (micro-, meso-, or macro- level) or population/aggregate focus.
• Demonstrate implementation in the appropriate arena or area of practice.
• Include a plan for sustainability (e.g. financial, systems or political realities, not only theoretical abstractions).
• Include an evaluation of processes and/or outcomes (formative or summative). DNP Projects should be designed so that processes and/or outcomes will be evaluated to guide practice and policy. Clinical significance is as important in guiding practice as statistical significance is in evaluating research.
• Provide a foundation for future practice scholarship.”

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses

https://qsen.org/ 
https://qsen.org/competencies/graduate-ksas/ 
https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/AcademicNursing/CurriculumGuidelines/Graduate-QSEN-Competencies.pdf