Students will accrue clinical hours over several semesters in the DNP program prior to and after the completion of the Professional Examination:
- Nursing Practice 8896: 93.75 clinical hours
- Nursing Practice 8897: 112.5 clinical hours
- Nursing Practice 8898 autumn semester: 150 clinical hours
- Nursing Practice 8898 spring semester: 150 clinical hours
In the final year of the program, students will complete a total of 300 clinical hours over two semesters (150 hours in each iteration of Nursing Practice 8898). This will result in a minimum of 500 post-master’s clinical hours. More hours can be completed if the students completed less than less than 500 hours in their master’s program.
Those enrolled in the post-BSN to DNP program will also complete a set of didactic and clinical courses specific to that role and population for which they are seeking specialty APRN certification. The practicum experiences of a student earning a practice doctorate include learning activities beyond the clinical hours required for direct patient care. The practicum hours are not an extension or continuation of core specialty clinical hours. Nurses with a practice doctorate must be able to provide leadership to foster intra-professional and inter-professional collaboration, demonstrate skills in promoting a culture of evidence, apply clinical investigative skills to evaluate health outcomes, and be able to influence health policy. A minimum of 500 clinical hours will be completed at the master’s level in the BSN to DNP program for APRN certification. All BSN to DNP students must complete a minimum of 1,000 clinical hours of post-BSN clinical/practicum experience.
The final immersion is a set of individualized learning experiences aimed at expanding the student’s clinical and systems-level expertise and specialized knowledge in advanced specialty nursing practice. The execution of the individual Final Project occurs within the immersion practice setting and forms a portion of the immersion experience.
With the help of the student’s faculty advisor, each DNP student develops a Written Immersion Plan with no more than three major learning objectives spanning the final academic year. In selecting the objectives, students should carefully consider the competencies identified in the DNP Essentials and develop objectives in areas in which the student would benefit from building his or her expertise. For each objective, well- specified activities relevant to meeting the objective should be identified for each semester of the immersion experience. Evaluation products should be developed for each objective and must presented to the faculty advisor each semester to demonstrate student progress.