VIII. DNP Project (NURS: 6826-6829) Doctor of Nursing Practice Project I-IV)
The Doctor of Nursing Practice Project provides the student the opportunity for in-depth analysis and synthesis of a practice, system, or policy problem related to advanced nursing practice; development of an evidence-based proposal to benefit a group, population, or community; and demonstration of leadership in assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. This is a series of four courses taken over the last 2 years of the DNP program and includes five s.h. and 370 hours supporting the Doctor of Nursing Practice Project. The student must complete and document a process to ensure ethical conduct of the DNP project, including protection of human subjects and private health information, when applicable. Guidelines and forms can be found on the appropriate course site.
A. Final course grades
- Satisfactory – used when the student has invested an appropriate amount of effort to make satisfactory progress on the project, as indicated by satisfactory grades on all semester assignments.
- Unsatisfactory – used when the student has not invested an appropriate amount of effort and/or does not make satisfactory progress on the project, as indicated by not completing all semester assignments with satisfactory grades.
- Incompletes – The grade of “I” is to be used only when a student’s work during a session cannot be completed because of illness, accident, or other circumstances beyond the student’s control and must be approved by the Associate Dean for Graduate Practice Programs. A student cannot advance to the next project course semester without first satisfactorily completing the previous semester.
B. Doctor of Nursing Practice Project Information
| Purpose | Perform an in-depth analysis and synthesis of a practice, system, or policy problem related to advanced nursing practice; develop an evidence-based proposal to benefit a group, population, or community; and demonstrate leadership in assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the project. |
| Eligibility | All DNP students. |
| Role of Project Course Faculty | Course faculty will provide feedback and grade all course assignments, which vary according to project semester. Students should contact their course faculty for any questions regarding assignments, grading, or course content. Course faculty will monitor student progress through the course and will interface with the project chair and/or academic advisor as needed. Course Faculty should be the first point of contact for students who have questions about course objectives, content, or assignments. Course faculty will consult with the Project Chair if there are student specific concerns, and may escalate it to the Academic Advisor, if needed. At times, a student’s course faculty may also be the student’s advisor or chair, but the roles are different. Course faculty will provide feedback and considerations regarding the project, as applicable to course assignments, but do not give final approval for the project concept topic, site, project feasibility, adequacy of the literature synthesis findings, or outcome measures unless they are assigned as the Project Chair and/or Academic Advisor. |
| Role of Advisor | The Academic Advisor, who is most often the program director, is responsible for overall student progression through their specialty program. The Academic Advisor will serve as a consultant if there are questions, concerns, or student issues raised by the Project Chair or the DNP Student. The Academic Advisor is responsible for co-signing the DNP Project Approval Form with the Project Chair. |
| Role of Project Chair | The Project Chair is a College of Nursing faculty member who provides guidance and oversees project development, implementation, and evaluation throughout the course of the project (4 semesters). The Project Chair will serve as the lead on student defense committees and make recommendations for the DNP Defense Committees during NURS:6829. Students are expected to communicate and/or meet face to face on a regular basis with their Project Chairs. Project Chairs should be the first point of contact for students who have questions or concerns regarding project development or progression. Project Chairs will review your documents submitted for each project course and provide feedback on the content of each assignment. However, Project Chairs will not provide pre-grading of your assignments. Students are responsible for proof reading, editing, and seeking help from the writing center, as needed. The Project Chair’s feedback will not replace, or influence grading assigned by other faculty in the course. However, the Project Chair will give final approval for the project concept topic, site, project feasibility, adequacy of the literature synthesis findings, and outcome measures. The final accountability for progression in completing satisfactory work of the project rests with the student |
| Role of Mentor | Mentors are usually not faculty (but may be) and provide students with site access and/or topic expertise relevant to conduct of the project. Students are responsible for finding a mentor; mentor agreements and evaluations are required during the course of the project. |
| Proposal | Upon approval of the advisor and project chair, the student will submit a written proposal for review. The advisor and chair must sign the approval form. Course faculty approval is noted by a passing grade in the proposal development semester. The student must submit a signed project approval form to the Graduate Program Office. |
| Evaluation of Final Projects | Evaluation teams consisting of a minimum of three doctorally-prepared clinical or tenure track faculty, two of whom hold primary appointments in the College of Nursing, will jury the oral defense and defense products. The team includes the advisor, chair, and course faculty. |
| Approval | The project will be evaluated by the Evaluation Teams as satisfactory or unsatisfactory, with two unsatisfactory votes making the result unsatisfactory. The College of Nursing Report of Final Examination DNP Project must be signed and returned to the Graduate Program Office |