New Doctorate of Nursing Practice offers APRNs expanded skills, experience

Beginning May 2010, UDM's McAuley School of Nursing will offer a new Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. The program is designed to provide students with in-depth knowledge of nursing and associated sciences, integrate them with sophisticated informatics and decision-making technology, and develop collaborative strategies that optimize the health of patients and their families and communities. Grounded in the Mercy and Jesuit traditions, the DNP program emphasizes the student's development as an expert clinician with strong leadership capacity, a commitment to service, and skills to act as change agents, translating clinical research to improve care.

The DNP will soon be required for advance practice in nursing due to a change in national standards by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The AACN has mandated that all advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) be prepared at the doctoral level for entry into advanced practice by the year 2015. UDM's nursing doctorate is distinctive for several reasons. Well-known for the quality and rigor in their programs, the College of Health Professions and McAuley School of Nursing have a long tradition of preparing entry-level and advanced practice nurses with rigorous and well-respected programs. Says Pat Rouen, assistant professor of Nursing and co-chair of the DNP task force,"Preparing advanced practice nurses who demonstrate excellence in both the art and science of nursing is our goal. Our mission and our commitment to community and an urban, under-served population is emphasized and threaded throughout our program."

The new DNP program also has a strong interdisciplinary component. Says Rouen, "Probably the aspect which most distinguishes our DNP from other institutions' programs is our interdisciplinary curriculum. The DNP requires some additional competencies, for example, business practices and advanced statistical knowledge for interpreting research data in clinical practice. Some of those domains of expertise we don't have in the College, so we tap into other faculty experts from across the University and beyond."

UDM faculty involved in developing and implementing the program include Martin Leever, associate professor of philosophy; Elizabeth Hill, professor of psychology and Linda Slowik, assistant professor of psychology; and Kathleen Zimmerman-Oster, associate professor of organizational psychology. Local and national experts include Sharie Falan from Western Michigan University and Marisa Wilson from University of Maryland in informatics and Elizabeth Wasilevich from the Michigan Department of Community Health in epidemiology.

"We're really proud and excited that our students will have the opportunity to work with these inter- and intra-disciplinary teams as they examine the issues in our current healthcare systems and work to design care that optimizes the health of individual patients and communities," says Rouen. "We feel we have a strong curriculum that addresses the goals of the DNP and emphasizes our mission here at UDM."

Another attribute distinguishing UDM's DNP is flexibility. Students will have the opportunity to customize their course work to their area of interest. For their elective classes, students will be able to choose between UDM or Madonna University because of a consortium agreement between the two universities.

Rouen says, "We had a strong foundation upon which to build the consortium with Madonna. We are both faith-based universities, the faculties are well-known to each other. Working together, we identified four courses that will be considered equivalent between both DNP programs. If students can't fit one of the four shared courses in their schedule at UDM, they can take it at Madonna, and vice versa."

As part of the recently funded HRSA grant to support the consortium with Madonna, other electives in culturally competent care, mental health services and health care disparities are in development by faculty teams from both universities. Students will be able to take these electives as part of their program at both institutions. Says Rouen, "These electives address pressing issues within our current health care system. For instance, we live in a global society, we meet and care for persons of all cultures in our practices. How can we approach and manage their care better? We have seen increases in the mental health needs of patients and huge cuts in the funding for these services. How can APRNs address this problem and meet the needs of these clients? Also, the issue of disparity in today's health care system continues to grow. As leaders in primary care and acute health care, APRNs are in the perfect position to advocate for and direct change that will improve the health care services for clients and communities."

Enrollment is projected at 12 new DNP students per year beginning in 2010. Students will take 18 credits per year (6 credits/semester) and complete the degree in 24 months. The program is open to any APRN (nurse anesthetist, nurse practitioner, nurse midwife, clinical nurse specialist) who has a Master of Science in Nursing or Nurse Anesthesia from an accredited school with a GPA of at least 3.2 and also meets other admission requirements. Additional DNP tracks for administration and systems leadership are in development.

With the number of physician providers in decline, advanced practice nurses will be in demand for the foreseeable future, and the DNP degree provides a solid foundation for translating clinical research into improved health care. Graduates will be able to address significant practice issues in a scholarly way and help to transform health care for individuals, families and local communities. Adds Rouen, "This is a clinical degree, it's all about application of knowledge to improve practice. It makes perfect sense because If you love to take care of patients, that's what you do. So the DNP is a wonderful move forward in many ways."

For more information on the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, contact Pat Rouen at 313-993-1739 or visit the DNP web site.