Program Overview

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Program Overview

The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Doctor of Nursing Practice Program is an online, part-time, post-master's, clinical doctorate for registered nurses interested in expanding their skills as nurse leaders or nurse practitioners. This program prepares graduates to provide the most advanced level of nursing care for individuals, families, organizations, and communities.

Program Description

The program includes direct care of individual patients, management of care for individuals and populations, administration of nursing systems, development, and implementation of health and evidence-based practice. Because courses are delivered remotely, students can remain in the communities where they live and work while completing program requirements. Travel may be required for students to interact with state or national experts in their areas of study. The curriculum is consistent with program standards set forth in the Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Practice. Students enrolled in the program will complete a scholarly project designed to improve patient or system outcomes.

Nursing Programs Goals

The goals of the Nursing Programs in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences are:

• To develop within the student the knowledge and skills necessary for beginning professional and advanced nursing practice, cultivating basic and specialized abilities needed to successfully pursue a career.
• To promote the concept of nursing as caring and facilitate attainment of a care delivery system sensitive to multicultural communities and their health values.
• To offer individuals the opportunity to increase the breadth and depth of the theoretical base for nursing practice, enhance and expand competence, prepare for role specialization, and contribute to the discovery of new nursing knowledge.
• To provide an educational environment of respect within which students may evolve as broadly educated, technology-competent, responsible, and accountable professionals dedicated to the principles of lifelong learning.
• To build a foundation for life-long learning & systematic practice.
• To serve the community as nursing experts, leaders, and consultants in professional organizations, health promoters, providers of health care policy information, and advocates of ethical distribution and usage of resources.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• Integrate nursing science knowledge from the biophysical, psychosocial, analytical, and organizational sciences and ethics as the basis for practice.
• Provide culturally relevant health promotion and disease prevention initiatives based on epidemiological, bio-statistical, environmental, and other scientific evidence for diverse populations.
• Demonstrate visionary organizational leadership by designing and implementing efficient effective practice and policy models.
• Apply advanced levels of clinical scholarship, systems thinking, and analytical methods in evidence-based management and practice.
• Translate and disseminate knowledge to transform caring management and practice.
• Leverage information systems and patient care technology for the improvement and transformation of health care.
• Analyze, develop, and advocate for healthcare policies to improve healthcare systems across diverse constituencies.
• Collaborate inter-professionally to improve patient and population outcomes through practice, education, and leadership.

Admission Requirements

Students seeking admission to the Doctor of Nursing Practice program will need to:

• Complete an online application to the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
• Have earned a Master of Science in Nursing or equivalent master's degree.
• Have an unencumbered Texas or compact RN License for the Executive Leadership Track and an APRN Texas license for the Nurse Practitioner Track.
• Have earned a satisfactory grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in their graduate nursing program.
• Submit two letters of recommendation from individuals knowledgeable about their potential to work effectively in advanced, professional, and scholarly roles.
• Provide a current resume that delineates an applicant's professional contributions and work experiences and contains sufficient information to represent the applicant's accomplishments in nursing.
• Complete an admission interview.

Program Requirements

Curriculum

The core nursing courses consist of graduate-level study of the scientific knowledge that comprises the discipline and profession of nursing, and prepares the student for advanced nursing practice.

Graduation Requirements

• General Requirements
• Requirements Credit Hours
  • Core Courses: 33
  • Advanced Specialty Courses: 3
  • DNP Project Seminar (1 hr./each of 4 last 4 semesters): 4
  • 1000 hours of field experience (maybe be completed within the required courses)
  • DNP Project (maybe be completed within the required courses)
• Total Credit Hours: 40

The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Recency of Credit rule requires that all credit earned for a graduate degree must be completed within seven years of the first semester in which a student is enrolled in a graduate program. This requirement means that students are expected to complete their DNP program in seven years. In rare situations, an exception to this seven-year policy may be granted by the Provost when a student is unable to complete courses in this time.

Course List

• Core DNP Courses
  • NURS 6300: Health Policy and Economics for the DNP (3 hours)
  • NURS 6301: Epidemiology and Statistics for Evidence-Based Practice (3 hours)
  • NURS 6302: Genomics in Health Care (3 hours)
  • NURS 6303: System Behavior and Impact on Health Care (3 hours)
  • NURS 6304: Application of Evidence in Practice I (3 hours)
  • NURS 6306: Informatics and Technology for Advanced Practice (3 hours)
  • NURS 6307: Application of Evidence in Practice II (3 hours)
  • NURS 6308: DNP Project Proposal (3 hours)
  • NURS 6309: Integration and Translation of Theory in Practice (3 hours)
  • NURS 6311: DNP Project Report (3 hours)
  • NURS 6393: The DNP Project and Biostatistics (3 hours)
• Advanced Specialty Course: Select one of the following (3 hours)
  • NURS 6321: Application of Advanced Principles for Clinical Nursing Practice
  • NURS 6331: Advanced Principles for Executive Practice
• DNP Seminar
  • NURS 6195: DNP Project Seminar (4 hours)

Field Experiences

Students are expected to complete a minimum of 1000 hours of field experience related to their courses and focus of study. Appropriate field or clinical hours completed in an MSN program will be counted as part of the 1000 hours (up to 500). Applicants will be required to demonstrate these hours were completed in relevant settings. Students will be responsible for identifying and selecting agencies or preceptors for their field experiences.

DNP Project Seminar

All students must complete a scholarly project as a requirement for the DNP degree. The project provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate their ability to develop effective interventions for patients and patient populations with complex health problems. The projects will be completed through multi-disciplinary collaborative partnerships and under faculty guidance.