Academic Catalog

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Program Description:

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is a practice-focused program that combines a scholarly approach to the discipline of nursing while advancing the profession of nursing through practice. The program is designed to prepare students for leadership roles in nursing. The program does not prepare students to obtain a state RN or APRN license. Intensive, immersive experiences inform the practice-focused DNP Capstone Project. The program requires students to complete 1000 hours of clinical practice immersion hours. Program applicants who provide evidence of clinical hours from an MSN or other nursing-specific degree have the potential to have a percentage of those hours applied to the required 1000 prior to the Project course sequence.

Degree Requirements: 42 Credits

Program Goals:

It is intended that Graduates of the Aspen University Doctor of Nursing Practice program will learn or be able to do the following:

  1. Theoretical Underpinnings: Evaluate scientific underpinnings for practice and create a theoretical framework based on research.
  2. Leadership: Improve the quality of nursing practice, by using leadership strategies and systems thinking, to lead organizations to change.
  3. Scholarship: Analyze clinical scholarship and analytical methods to provide a foundation for evidence-based practice.
  4. Technology: Critique information systems and patient care technology to improve and transform healthcare.
  5. Healthcare Advocacy: Advocate for improved healthcare policy.
  6. Collaboration: Collaborate with professionals in other disciplines to improve patient and population health outcomes.
  7. Innovation: Create innovations for prevention of disease and improvement of population health.

Academic Schedule

Courses:

DNP800Theoretical and Scientific Underpinnings

3

DNP805Organizational and Systems Leadership

3

DNP835Strategic Leadership and Business Management

3

DNP840Strategic Planning and Financial Management

3

DNP825Health Information Management and Informatics

3

DNP810Evidence-based Practice for Quality Improvement

3

DNP820Health Policy and Advocacy

3

DNP830Global Population Health

3

DNP850AProject Planning

3

DNP850BProject Proposal

3

DNP851AProject Implementation

3

DNP851BProject Data Analysis

3

DNP852AProject Manuscript

3

DNP852BProject Dissemination

3

Final Proctored Exam