The Alverno College Doctor of Nursing (DNP) Program, available to women and men, carries on the College’s tradition in the professional liberal arts with particular focus on integrative, experiential, and reflective approaches to learning. The DNP curriculum supports students’ development of advanced knowledge and competence in the abilities that frame the undergraduate curriculum at Alverno College: namely, Communication, Analysis, Problem Solving, Valuing in Decision Making, Social Interaction, Developing a Global Perspective, Effective Citizenship, and Aesthetic Engagement. Practicum experiences and didactic courses are designed to support the learner in applying selected abilities with individuals, families, and groups across the developmental lifespan in diverse health care settings.
The DNP program is a post-master’s program, meaning, it is designed for nurses, who have previously earned a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree. Building on the essential elements of master’s education in nursing, two innovative and evidence-based curricular tracks are offered: Direct Care and Leadership. The leadership track offers two specializations: Educational Leadership and Executive Leadership. The DNP program is delivered asynchronously online and offers flexibility for full or part-time study.
Students enrolled in the direct care track have previously graduated with an MSN degree from an accredited, graduate nursing education program focused in an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) role, as delineated by the Consensus Model for APRN Regulation: Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, & Education (APRN Consensus Work Group & the National Council of State Boards of Nursing [NCSBN] APRN Advisory Committee, 2008). These APRN roles include clinical nurse specialist (CNS), certified nurse practitioner (NP), certified nurse midwife (CNM), and certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA). Students in the direct care track must provide documented evidence of current CNS, NP, CNM, or CRNA national board certification upon entry to the program. Students in the direct care track are required to maintain national board certification and employment in their APRN role as conditions of their ongoing enrollment in the DNP program. Students in the direct care track complete a 30-credit hour curriculum along with 500-1,000 clinical practicum hours supervised by an appropriately credentialled clinical preceptor.
Students entering the leadership track have previously graduated with an MSN degree from an accredited graduate nursing education program that may or may not have been focused in an APRN role. The leadership track is ideal for students whose prior graduate nursing education and specialty role experience has been focused in health care administration and organizational leadership, health policy development and law, informatics, or nursing education. Students in the leadership track are required to maintain employment in their leadership role specialty as a condition of their ongoing enrollment in the DNP program. Students the Executive Leadership and Educational Leadership specialties complete a 32-credit hour curriculum along with 500 - 1,000 clinical practicum hours.
Conditional Admission: The JMSNHP may offer the opportunity for a conditional admission to an applicant who meets certain benchmarks but does not meet all of the criteria for admission to a particular track in the DNP program offered at Alverno College. The decision to extend an opportunity for conditional admission may be made by the Dean of the JMSNHP, Dean's designee, Chair of Graduate Nursing Programs, or Graduate Nursing Admissions and Advancement Committee (GNAA). Typically, a conditional admission involves stipulations that the student must meet during their first semester of enrollment in the DNP program to continue in the program. Except under very extraordinary circumstances, as determined by GNAA, if the student does not meet the conditions of their admission, they are dismissed from the program. If the student is successful in meeting the conditions, they progress in the program.
Three American Nurses Association (ANA) documents espouse the basis for all nursing practice, and Alverno nursing faculty use these documents to underpin the curriculum and structure its content and learning experiences:
In addition, the following documents espouse standards, competencies, and criteria that specifically serve to ground the DNP curriculum:
The DNP program graduate:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics for Advanced Practice 1 | ||
| DNP CORE COURSES | ||
| DNP-800 | Orientation to the DNP Program | 0 |
| DNP-810 | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | 3 |
| DNP-820 | Practice-Based Inquiry | 3 |
| DNP-830 | Clinical Practicum I | 1 |
| DNP-835 | Measurement, Instrumentation, Statistics For Translational Research | 3 |
| DNP-840 | Information Technology and Data- Driven Inquiry | 3 |
| DNP-850 | Translational Research | 3 |
| DNP-860 | Scholarly Project I | 3 |
| DNP-910 | Health Systems & Public Policy | 2 |
| DNP-920 | Ethical Leadership in Health Care | 2 |
| DNP-930 | Clinical Practicum II | 1 |
| DNP-960 | Scholarly Project II | 2 |
| DIRECT CARE REQUIREMENT | ||
| DNP-940 | Genetics and Genomics in Health Care | 4 |
| Total Credits | 30 | |
May be a pre-req; not required.
| First Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| DNP-800 | 0 | DNP-830 | 1 | ||
| DNP-810 | 3 | DNP-835 | 3 | ||
| DNP-820 | 3 | DNP-840 | 3 | ||
| DNP-850 | 3 | ||||
| 6 | 10 | ||||
| Second Year | |||||
| Summer | Credits | Fall | Credits | ||
| DNP-860 | 3 | DNP-930 | 1 | ||
| DNP-910 | 2 | DNP-940 | 4 | ||
| DNP-920 | 2 | DNP-960 | 2 | ||
| 7 | 7 | ||||
| Total Credits 30 | |||||
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| DNP CORE COURSES | ||
| DNP-800 | Orientation to the DNP Program | 0 |
| DNP-810 | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | 3 |
| DNP-820 | Practice-Based Inquiry | 3 |
| DNP-830 | Clinical Practicum I | 1 |
| DNP-835 | Measurement, Instrumentation, Statistics For Translational Research | 3 |
| DNP-840 | Information Technology and Data- Driven Inquiry | 3 |
| DNP-850 | Translational Research | 3 |
| DNP-860 | Scholarly Project I | 3 |
| DNP-910 | Health Systems & Public Policy | 2 |
| DNP-920 | Ethical Leadership in Health Care | 2 |
| DNP-930 | Clinical Practicum II | 1 |
| DNP-960 | Scholarly Project II | 2 |
| EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP REQUIREMENTS | 6 | |
| DNP-845 | Quality, Safety, and Regulatory Process in Health Care | 2 |
| DNP-855 | Health Care Economics and Financial Management | 2 |
| DNP-945 | Creating Agility in Dynamic Environments | 2 |
| Total Credits | 38 | |
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| DNP CORE COURSES | ||
| DNP-800 | Orientation to the DNP Program | 0 |
| DNP-810 | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | 3 |
| DNP-820 | Practice-Based Inquiry | 3 |
| DNP-830 | Clinical Practicum I | 1 |
| DNP-836 | Higher Ed Roles, Resp, & Leadership | 3 |
| DNP-838 | Instructional Design-Fundamentals | 3 |
| DNP-839 | Teaching/Lrning in Diverse Ed Contexts | 3 |
| DNP-840 | Information Technology and Data- Driven Inquiry | 3 |
| DNP-850 | Translational Research | 3 |
| DNP-860 | Scholarly Project I | 3 |
| DNP-910 | Health Systems & Public Policy | 2 |
| DNP-920 | Ethical Leadership in Health Care | 2 |
| DNP-930 | Clinical Practicum II | 1 |
| DNP-960 | Scholarly Project II | 2 |
| EDUCATIONAL NURSING LEADERSHIP REQUIREMENTS | 6 | |
| DNP-812 | Equity in Diverse Educational Settings | 3 |
| DNP-831 | Higher Education Legal Issues & Accreditation | 3 |
| DNP-832 | Higher Education Curriculum & Assessment | 3 |
| Total Credits | 47 | |
| First Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| DNP-800 | 0 | DNP-835 | 3 | ||
| DNP-810 | 3 | DNP-840 | 3 | ||
| DNP-820 | 3 | DNP-850 | 3 | ||
| 6 | 9 | ||||
| Second Year | |||||
| Summer | Credits | Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| DNP-830 | 1 | DNP-839 | 3 | DNP-930 | 1 |
| DNP-836 | 3 | DNP-855 | 2 | DNP-945 | 4 |
| DNP-838 | 3 | DNP-910 | 2 | DNP-960 | 2 |
| DNP-845 | 2 | DNP-920 | 2 | ||
| DNP-860 | 3 | ||||
| 12 | 9 | 7 | |||
| Total Credits 43 | |||||
| First Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| DNP-800 | 0 | DNP-835 | 3 | ||
| DNP-810 | 3 | DNP-840 | 3 | ||
| DNP-820 | 3 | DNP-850 | 3 | ||
| 6 | 9 | ||||
| Second Year | |||||
| Summer | Credits | Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| DNP-830 | 1 | DNP-910 | 2 | DNP-930 | 1 |
| DNP-860 | 3 | DNP-920 | 2 | DNP-960 | 2-5 |
| DNP-812, 831, or 8321 | 3 | DNP-812, 831, or 8321 | 3 | ||
| 7 | 7 | 3-6 | |||
| Total Credits 32-35 | |||||
Can count each course only one time.