Welcome to the UMB DNP Blog Space! This blog is intended to be a resource for DNP students (and future ones) and a forum to provide up to date information about the program.
The UMass DNP Program
The UMass DNP prepares advanced practice nurses with the highest skills of excellence and scope of nursing knowledge for practicing in the emerging health care environment. The scope of knowledge and skills to be acquired include expertise in direct, autonomous and interdisciplinary patient care management and health systems leadership as well as translational research. These advanced practice skills and knowledge will be augmented by an in-depth understanding of health care financing trends and the utility of information technology in the health care system. This breadth and depth of knowledge will prepare graduates to provide solutions to the problems encountered in today’s health care system and develop strategies to address the challenges of the future.
The UMass Boston DNP Program was developed as a clinical practice doctorate. The ideal student is an APRN employed in a setting focus on reducing health disparities and servicing underserved communities. By the completion of the UMB DNP Program, our students have attained the leadership skills necessary to be a change agent. They seek to improve patient care and health services through the implementation of evidenced based practice and quality improvement initiatives.
Our Focus: Quality Improvement
The culmination of the UMass DNP Program is the completion of a quality improvement project (DNP Scholarly Project). We are committed to the concept of improving quality of care, especially in underserved areas, with a focus on reducing health disparities. The DNP student begins working on the DNP Scholarly project in the first semester of the program by exploring areas of interest. From there, the student is guided through each step of the process over the three year program with the final product being a successfully developed, implemented and evaluated quality improvement project.
What if I am not an APRN?
Non-APRNs may be accepted into the postmasters DNP program if they fulfill the admission requirements. All Post Masters DNP students must complete a total of 1000 clinical practice hours to graduate. All APRN students admitted to the program may apply hours earned in their Masters of Nursing program (600) towards the 1000 hours needed to graduate as a DNP. Non-APRN students accepted to the Post Masters DNP are required to complete 1000 hours of clinical practice hours because they did not complete clinical practice hours within their Masters of Nursing Program. In the case of the non-APRN student, to complete the additional 600 clinical hours, non-APRN students may take NU 735 as an elective or be asked to complete an additional 250 clinical immersion hours in each of DNP 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Goals of the DNP program
- Assuring an appropriate supply, diversity, and distribution of advanced practice nurses to meet emerging health care system needs in the Commonwealth and Boston urban and suburban community;
- Preparing advanced practice nurses with the highest level of knowledge and competence to successfully pass the national certification exams in their specialty and obtain employment in their specialty area;
- Developing advanced practice nurses with competence in health systems leadership, policy development, and interdisciplinary collaboration to improve health care quality and increase health care access for all populations;
- Preparing graduates with transformational leadership skills in policy change in order to overcome disparities in health care for those population groups bearing a disproportionate share of disease and disability.
The MS to DNP program prepares advanced practice registered nurses with the highest skills of excellence and scope of nursing knowledge for practicing in the emerging health care environment. Students will gain knowledge and skills in direct, autonomous, and interdisciplinary patient care management and health systems leadership, as well as translation of evidence-based research into practice and policy. This will be augmented by an in-depth understanding of health care financing trends and the utility of information technology in the health care system. This breadth and depth of knowledge will prepare graduates to provide solutions to the problems encountered in today’s health care system and develop strategies to address the challenges of the future. The DNP program is online with synchronized and asynchronized class sessions.