Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program Overview
Are you a practicing nurse looking to advance your degree and expand your skills and responsibilities to make a bigger impact in the healthcare environment? Perhaps you want to take on a greater leadership role or have more involvement with patients throughout their lifetimes.
If you have a B.S.N., M.S., M.S.N. or are a certified advanced practice nurse, Ashland University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice Program offers you the opportunity to advance your career in a number of ways.
Learning Objectives
To be successful in today’s complex healthcare environment, nursing professionals must have the required clinical and research expertise to support and drive quality patient outcomes.
Ashland University’s DNP program prepares you for that challenge with leading faculty, rigorous curriculum that includes a strong science foundation and hands-on practice and residency experience that covers a broad scope of responsibility in the field of nursing.
Our practice-focused DNP program focuses on the following areas of study:
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Leadership Development
- Cultural Competence
- Organizational Analysis
- Policy, Ethics and Advocacy in Healthcare
Benefits
To meet the needs of the working professional, the DNP program is offered online with access to coursework 24/7. Other benefits include:
- Collaboration with peers and faculty online.
- Completing your practice residency at area hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities.
- Earning your degree in as few as
- 12 semesters (four years) for Family Nurse Practitioner
- 9 semesters (three years) for Health Systems Leadership
- 6 semesters (two years) for Advanced Practice
Curriculum
The DNP program includes the following core requirements:
- NUR 9110: DNP Role and Interprofessionalism
- NUR 9520: Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- NUR 9530: Research Methods and Evidence-Based Practice
- NUR 9540: Healthcare Informatics
- NUR 9550: Healthcare Delivery, Quality and Safety
- NUR 9560: Health Policy and Advocacy
- NUR 9580: Interprofessional Seminar
- NUR 9810/9820: Scholarly Project
- NUR 9831: Residency
View the Academic Catalog for complete program requirements.
Tracks
Transfer Credit Policy
A maximum of nine graduate-level credits from an accredited college or university may be transferred toward completion of the requirements for the DNP degree. Official transcripts certifying graduate-level courses completed at another institution prior to admission to Ashland University should be submitted at the time of application and will be evaluated by the DNP program director for acceptability as transfer credit.
Transfer credit will only be accepted for courses in which a grade of B (3.0 on 4.0 scale) or higher has been received. Courses taken more than five years prior to admission may not be accepted.
The student is responsible for initiating the request to transfer credit. For each course for which the student requests transfer credit, the student must:
- Complete a Request for Transfer Credit form as part of the DNP admissions application, identifying the institution attended, course title, semester and year completed and the number of credits for which transfer is requested.
- Attach a copy of the transcript, which includes the grade received for the requested transfer credits, and a detailed course description/outline.
- Submit these materials to the Office of Graduate Admissions with the application. The request will be forwarded to the DNP program director.
Approval and/or disapproval of accepted transfer credits will be included in the admission letter to the applicant.
Approved transfer credits will be forwarded to the College of Nursing and Health Sciences administrative assistant for graduate programs for inclusion in the student file and processing with the Office of Records and Registration.
Graduate Outcomes
Anticipated Career Growth
There is a 35 percent projected employment increase for advanced degree nurses (such as nurse practitioners) over the next ten years.
Career Opportunities
- Managing nurses and staff in hospitals
- Developing policies and procedures
- Educating patients
- Owning an independent practice
- Providing quality evidence-based practice
Work Settings
- Private practices
- Clinics
- Hospitals
- Businesses
- Managed care organizations
- Governmental agencies