Nursing Practice, DNP

Admission Requirements

Please contact the School of Nursing before applying.

• Current unrestricted licensure as an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN).
• A master’s degree in nursing with an advanced practice focus from an accredited university with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
• Three letters of recommendation from individuals who can address the applicant’s potential to succeed in the DNP graduate program and who can attest to clinical expertise.
• Letter of verification of master’s degree clinical hours from the institution where the master’s degree was earned.
• Pre-admission interview.
• A 300 word essay describing professional goals and area of interest for the capstone project.

Development of the curriculum is structured by four broad areas of knowledge described in the AACN’s Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Practice Nursing (2006). Acquisition of knowledge within the areas of Scientific/Physiologic Foundation for Advanced Evidence Based Practice; Leadership Information Management; Practice Inquiry; and Advanced Specialty Practice, will be demonstrated by the student’s development of essential competencies. The following outcome competencies are expected.

Graduates of the program will:

• Use appropriate theories and concepts to identify health-related phenomena of interest.
• Design and deliver interventions that can withstand scientific analysis.
• Evaluate health care delivery and nursing practices using sound evaluation principles.
• Use evaluation and other methods to account for quality of care and patient safety for focus populations.
• Critically appraise and/or use sources informing best evidence, i.e. epidemiology, statistics, health data, and/or methodologies.
• Deliver and evaluate care processes and outcomes based on best evidence.
• Analyze and define critical choices among health care technologies and information systems toward the betterment of care processes and outcomes.
• Understand the dynamics of health care policy and financing at the organizational and national levels.
• Provide or assist in the leadership of collaborative, inter-professional teams in health care delivery.

Program Description

The University of Akron Professional Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program requires a minimum of 71 graduate credit hours and 1,040 clinical hours for those students entering with a baccalaureate in nursing degree from an accredited program. Post-master’s entry requires:

1. 37 credits of DNP courses;
2. 540 clinical practice hours; and
3. transfer from the student’s master’s degree in nursing program a minimum of 34 credits of nursing and advanced practice role-specific coursework, which includes 500 clinical hours (or is taken as part of the DNP program).

The minimum passing grade for each course is a “B.” Students earning a grade less than “B” will be required to repeat the course the next time it is offered. A student will not be permitted to enroll in the next course until the course is repeated. A course can be repeated only one time in the DNP program. A second course grade below the grade of “B” will result in dismissal from the DNP program.

Core Courses

Specialty Courses - 12-34 Credits     

Specialty courses vary according to the particular current MSN advanced practice concentration (includes 500-700 clinical hours).

DNP Courses - Minimum of 37 Credits and Includes 540 Clinical Hours