DNP-801A Introduction to DNP Studies is a major milestone that helps learners grow personally and contribute greatly to the community. Are you seeking expertise and well-reversed skills to improve patient care? Then you are in the right place. A DNP degree is eligible for nurse leaders and nursing informatics who want to promote patient care in a research-focused institution. The DNP curriculum provides key mentorship content on evidence-based practice and quality improvement.
Introduction to DNP studies is meant to prepare students for their professional journey. In this course, students must demonstrate good scholarly skills and behave professionally. A DNP degree differs from a Ph.D. in that it provides graduates with skills and expands their theoretical knowledge, which they can use to make healthcare changes that impact patients’ quality of life.
The purpose of Nursing DNP studies
In 2004, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) members endorsed a position statement on the Doctorate of Nursing Practice. AACN aims to provide the necessary skills to nursing practitioners to improve patients’ quality of life. Four hundred twenty-six programs are enrolling DNP students, which is expected to rise in the coming years. The doctor of nursing practice program sandwiches theoretical knowledge with clinical application. A DNP degree helps graduates develop nursing science competency and understand ethical research issues.
The purpose of the DNP studies based on the National Academy of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is to provide top-notch expertise, skills, and scientific knowledge to ensure good patient outcomes, hence the increased need for DNP educational programs. Factors such as concerns for patients’ safety and care, shortages of nursing personnel, and increased complexity of patient care have led to the dire need for DNP graduates. The DNP graduates possess expert research skills. Therefore, their knowledge can work in research organizations to help improve the patient’s diagnosis and treatment plan.
DNP-801A Introduction to DNP studies Topic 1 DQ 2: DNP learners Self-care
Like any other educational program, the Doctor of Nursing Practice comes with much pressure, especially in covering and delivering projects on time. Learners in the DNP program must develop strategies to help reduce stress and maintain a healthy balance. Surveys done recently show that a large number of nurses are sad and depressed.
Self-care is a deliberate move to improve your spiritual and mental well-being. Self-care helps students reduce stress and helps improve their capacity to deliver compassion and empathy. The American Nurses Association also supports the need for self-care, stating that the moral respect nurses extend to humans should also extend to them. As a DNP keener, some of the signs of stress or imbalance you may experience include the following:
- Sleep disorders such as insomnia
- Anger and agitation
- Anger and agitation
- Pain, e.g., headache, chest pains
- Withdrawal and depression
- Anxiety and tiredness
- Wight changes
- Digestion problems, diarrhea, and constipation
DNP learners are involved in clinical practices and scholarly writing, which consumes much energy and causes burnout. Proper self-care practice, especially for DNP students, has become integral to this training. Therefore, DNP learners are responsible for ensuring they have achieved appropriate self-care strategies. Some of the key strategies that DNP learners can use to achieve balance include
- Self-assessment and developing healthy boundaries – self-evaluation and assessment are the first steps in ensuring self-care for DNP learners. Here, you evaluate where you are and what you want to improve. Use a daily planner to map your weekly plans and to-do lists. According to previous research, maintaining healthy boundaries in the workplace and personal life is the foundation of self-care.
- Eating healthy and engaging in physical activities –as a DNP learner, you are always attending to the physical needs of others, and you often forget to observe your health. How often do you check on your diet? It is important to stay hydrated and also eat food rich in antioxidants. The CDC emphasizes the need for physical activity to prevent lifestyle diseases; it recommends weekly 75 – 150 minutes of exercise.
- Nurturing your spirit –participating in relaxation techniques and spiritual practices as a DNP learner helps reduce anxiety and makes one more productive. It can also be effective when you take a few minutes daily to meditate and reflect. Participating in hobbies and other interests can also boost your happiness.
- Build and create relationships – although building a healthy relationship requires a lot of commitment, According to Henry Cloud, relationship connections encourage us to move to our dreams and grow our minds and souls. Intentionally focusing and prioritizing important relationships helps to reduce stress.
- Pursue your goals –Based on Robert Wood Johnson’s research, higher-education nurses will likely be more satisfied. Doctor of Nursing Practice programs have been associated with tremendous career growth among nurses.NP program improves the learner’s professional development by equipping them with research and data analysis skills, ethical leadership, and advocacy skills.
DNP 801A Introduction to DNP studies Preconference Evaluation: Individual Success plan (ISP)
The DNP learner’s success plan maps out what they must accomplish to complete their course and the program. Individual success plan assignment in this course requires collaboration between the faculty and the DNP learners to develop a mutual plan. They must agree on the specific deliverables of the program that must be met. Some of the programmatic requirements are completion of the practical hours, completion of work associated with program competencies, and the completion of the Direct practice improvement project. A meeting is required between the DNP learners and their mentors so that th can meet student-specific objectives, responsibilities, and the expectations of the learners during the learning experience. For the DNP learner to successfully finish their DNP program and graduate, they must meet all the program requirements, which include :
- Successfully practicing and completing the program immersion hours
- Working and meeting all the courses associated with DNP and GCU competencies
- Completing and defending your Direct Practice Improvement Project, including gaining approval from the dean. Students needing to complete their practice hours or have their final manuscript dean reviewed as insufficient may require a DNP course extension before the dean’s approval.
A DNP learner’s practical target immersion hours vary depending on the curriculum, with DNP – 115 stating 50 hours and DNP -815A displaying 100 hours. However, all actual hours are recorded into the Typhon or Lopestracker subsequently. The student is expected to share their success plan documents at the beginning of the first week and the end of week eight of each course except in the 965A,960A, and DNP-955A, which you deliver in the 16th week. The DNP learners are also responsible for ensuring they enter the hour into the Typhon /lopes tracker and sign off before completing the course. Later, they will mark and approve the hours entered. Any assignment in the DNP course requires the students to collaborate with their preceptor or mentors to establish a plan.
Individual Success Plan Manuscript Purpose
Developing a good individual success plan allows the DNP learner to complete their program easily. DNP learners must determine the practice experience they seek to address the course objective. Learners are to apply concepts and objectives learned from each course and integrate scholarly articles to provide case reports that showcase their professional practice.DNP learners are to develop a personal plan for completing their program hours and self-accessing how they will reach their program competencies. Some of the key benefits of creating an individual success plan include :
- Enables the learners to set informed goals for their personal and career success
- It sets weekly and monthly follow-ups to monitor progress toward the stated objectives and goals.
- It provides a foundation and explains the key components of the DNP programs.
- Helps DNP learners create concrete plans and actions to help complete their graduate program within the given immersion hours for completing their project.
DNP-801A Introduction to DNP studies Topic 2 DQ 2: Direct Practice Improvement (DPI)
You must develop a Direct Practice Improvement Project (DPI) as a DNP learner. In this course, the DNP nurse is expected to describe a potential patient practice problem they are interested in and explain why this topic is valid. The learners partner with the community to investigate possible improvements to the healthcare system. DNP students are expected to demonstrate top-notch scholarly writing throughout the program.
The Direct Practice improvement project allows learners to systematically translate current evidence into practice. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, DNP projects should focus on changes influencing patient care through population change and direct and indirect supervision. Additionally, the projects should be conducted in a setting within the program of study; they should evaluate an outcome and include a sustainability plan.
DPI project is a quality improvement project that uses systematic and data-driven initiatives to help improve patient safety and clinical care and help in health care operations. Quality improvement is a systematic approach guided by data to ensure safety and quality healthcare delivery. Improving the quality of healthcare is one of the primary focus of many medical institutions and nursing fields. This is because quality improvement reduces healthcare costs and improves patient outcomes. Some of the keynote steps that DNP learners are supposed to follow up to their completion of the Direct Practice improvement project include:
- Identifying and obtaining approval for a potential patient practice problem
- The proposal mostly entails the project’s objectives and requirements, such as timeline and budget.
- Presenting the DPI project to the professors, supporting your patient practice problem, and gaining approval.
- Implementing the project and putting everything into action. The stages of project implementation include initiation, planning, product selection, monitoring, and closure.
- Writing the final capstone project report: in this report, the DNP learners present and describe what they discovered in their research. One can use several formats to showcase their research, such as tables and graphs.
DNP-801A Introduction to DNP studies Topic 2 DQ 2: Introduction to Scholarly writing?
Scholarly writing is a set of standards used or required during professional writing. Academic writing helps learners present an idea, analyze the research, and argue effectively. In the doctor of nursing program, students are supposed to use literary writing styles in their Direct Practice Improvement projects. In scholarly writing, learners must avoid biased statements, incorporate evidence, and make strong arguments. It requires clear, concise, and precise language or tone. Some of the standards for scholarly writing in the DNP program include :
Developing a clear thesis – You must use a formal tone while creating a thesis statement. This shows the writer’s knowledge and expertise in the DNP course. DNP learners are expected to use the third-person point of view to show objectivity during scholarly writing. Some of the patient practice project examples that DNP learners can write about include:
- Improving healthcare coordination among departments
- Reducing medication administration errors
- Improving electronic medical record documentation
- Ways of reducing hospital readmissions
- Optimizing sepsis care with antibiotics
Arguing objectively and maintaining an unbiased perspective -DNP learners, during their writing, should aim at objectively discussing using evidence. The learners should support their key points and statements using evidence-based research. Therefore, they should use an analysis to present their arguments.
Using appropriate sources and peer-reviewed articles – DNP learners are expected to use the scholarly approved sources during their writing. The learners should support their work using peer-reviewed journals and cite their sources properly. The DNP learners must mention the authors while presenting ideas and findings to avoid plagiarism. The body of the text should support the thesis statement.
Arranging your project in a logical and organized manner-organizing your work can help the professor follow your work and make connections of the related concepts. A good DPI project must have an introduction, abstract, background, methods, results, and conclusion. The problem statement should be properly explained and supported with peer-reviewed articles.
Use of APA style –DNP students are required to apply the APA format while writing their Direct Practice Improvement project. Some approved APA styles while writing your paper using the Times New Roman 12 font indent the first line of each paragraph and include a title page and page number on every page.
Topics
- DNP-801A Introduction to DNP Studies Topic 1 DQ 1
- DNP-801A Introduction to DNP Studies Topic 1 DQ 2
- DNP-801A Introduction to DNP Studies Doctoral Strategies Essay and Attestation
- DNP-801A Introduction to DNP Studies Preconference Evaluation: Individual Success Plan (ISP)
Topic 2
- DNP-801A Introduction to DNP Studies Topic 2 DQ 1
- DNP-801A Introduction to DNP Studies Topic 2 DQ 2
- DNP-801A Introduction to DNP Studies Scholarly Writing Using Research
