About
The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is a practice doctorate that prepares clinical scholars recognized for outstanding leadership and innovative evidence-based patient/population centered outcomes. The program focuses on interprofessional collaboration and developing competencies in practice, leadership, and quality improvement and safety that lead to enhanced outcomes important to patients, families, providers, and organizations.
The BSN to DNP curriculum is in line with the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties' (NONPF) and American Association of Colleges of Nurses (AACN) commitment to move all entry-level nurse practitioner education to the DNP degree by 2025. The program is an integration of the objectives and learning opportunities required for attainment of doctoral level core and population-focused competencies.
OU College of Nursing’s Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist program prepares skilled nurses to function at the highest level of care in a wide range of health care settings where neonatal care needs are served.
Clinical experts in the diagnoses, interventions and treatments of illnesses, CNSs work with other professionals to advance the nursing practice and improve outcomes in patient care, in addition to providing clinical expertise to influence system-wide changes in care.
Those who earn a doctoral degree as a clinical nurse specialist often:
- Lead and collaborate in an interdisciplinary healthcare team
- Manage complex medical neonates as they prepare for discharge to their medical home
- Serve as educators, consultants, evidence-based researchers, change agents and unit leaders, as well as clinical nurses
Graduates of this program can be found working in independent or collaborative practice, hospitals, and outpatient clinics.
The CNS pathway offers 4-year part-time and 3-year full-time options to fit the schedules of working nurses. Many classes are offered online but there are on-campus learning requirements in some classes. On-campus learning consists of standardized patient visits, labs with clinical skills and physical assessments, and objective structured clinical exams. For additional information about this program, please contact nursing@ouhsc.edu.
Post-Graduate Certificate tracks are available. For additional information, please review our Post-Graduate Certificate page.
The Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist curriculum prepares graduates to apply for and sit for the Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist certification exam.
Cost
It is the student’s responsibility to ensure they are enrolled in the prescribed courses and to pay tuition and fees at the time designated by the Bursar's Office. Details regarding tuition/fee charges and collection are available from the Bursar's Office.
Admissions
Clinical Rotations will be performed in the state of Oklahoma. Due to federal regulations from the Department of Education, the College of Nursing currently accepts applications for its online doctoral degree programs from residents of the states participating in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA). A list of participating states can be found at:http://nc-sara.org/sara-states-institutions. Applicants are encouraged to check with their local State Boards of Nursing regarding any specific professional licensure requirements prior to applying or enrolling.
Curriculum
http://nursing.ouhsc.edu/Programs-Academics/Doctor-of-Nursing-Practice/BSN-to-DNP-Neonatal-Clinical-Nurse-Specialist#la-968495583-curriculum
The BSN-DNP program is 74 semester credit hours and 1034 clinical/practicum hours.
The Post-Graduate certificate program has 28 semester credit hours and 714 clinical/practicum hours.
Programs can be completed in 3-4 years for the BSN-DNP option and 2 years for the Post-Graduate Certificate option.
Course List
| Code |
Title |
Hours |
| NURS 8003 | Background & Scientific Underpinnings for Advanced Nursing Practice | 3 |
| PATH 5503 | Applied Principles of Pathology | 3 |
| NURS 8123 | Information Systems and Technologies for Health Care Transformation | 3 |
| BSE 5163 | Biostatistical Methods I | 3 |
| or NURS 6123 | Applied Statistics I |
| NURS 8423 | Evidence-based Practice and Translational Science in Nursing | 3 |
| NURS 7414 | Pathophysiology for Neonatal APRNs | 4 |
| NURS 8313 | Economics and Finance in Health Care | 3 |
| NURS 7423 | Pharmacology for Neonatal Advanced Practice Nurses | 3 |
| NURS 8333 | Healthcare Quality for Improved Outcomes | 3 |
| NURS 8443 | Organizational and Systems Leadership in Nursing | 3 |
| NURS 8113 | Research Methods | 3 |
| NURS 7413 | Advanced Neonatal Physical Assessment & Diagnostic Reasoning (64 clinical hours) | 3 |
| NURS 7103 | Systems Management for the Clinical Nurse Specialist | 3 |
| BMSC 5102 | Fundamentals of Scientific Writing | 2 |
| BSE 5113 | Principles of Epidemiology | 3 |
| NURS 7173 | Advanced Neonatal Concepts I | 3 |
| NURS 7163 | Advanced Neonatal CNS Practicum I (192 clinical hours) | 3 |
| NURS 8730 | Practice Inquiry I (64 clinical hours) | 1-5 |
| NURS 8712 | Roles and Responsibilities of the Doctor of Nursing Practices | 2 |
| NURS 7353 | Advanced Concepts in Quality & Safety (32 clinical hours) | 3 |
| NURS 8740 | Practice Inquiry II (128 practicum hours) | 1-5 |
| NURS 7193 | Advanced Neonatal Concepts II | 3 |
| NURS 7183 | Advanced Neonatal CNS Practicum II (192 clinical hours) | 3 |
| NURS 8800 | Practice Inquiry III (128 practicum hours) | 1-5 |
| NURS 7363 | Synthesis for the Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist (128 clinical hours) | 3 |
| NURS 8323 | Health Policy Local to Global | 3 |
Prerequisite Courses
http://nursing.ouhsc.edu/Programs-Academics/Doctor-of-Nursing-Practice/BSN-to-DNP-Neonatal-Clinical-Nurse-Specialist#la-968495582-prerequisite-courses
Course List
| Code |
Title |
Hours |
| |
| |
Prerequisite Requirements
-
Successful completion of a Bachelor or Master of Science in Nursing degree from a regionally accredited institution.
-
Minimum 3.0 GPA from the last 60 hours.
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Current United States license to practice as a Registered Nurse in state where clinical rotations are completed.
Program Outcomes
http://nursing.ouhsc.edu/Programs-Academics/Doctor-of-Nursing-Practice/BSN-to-DNP-Executive-Leadership#la-938205585-program-outcomes
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the program, the graduate will be prepared to:
- Integrate theories from nursing and support sciences to guide practice and role development
- Use evidence-based and best practice literature to propose and initiate change.
- Use political acumen to influence health care policy in the promotion of safe, ethical health care delivery.
- Deliver a broad array of evidence-based, patient-centered nursing interventions to culturally diverse or at-risk individuals and populations in a specialized area of practice.
- Demonstrate expertise in a specialized area of clinical, teaching, and management/administrative practice and/or initial competence in a functional role (advanced practice registered nurse [APRN], educator and administrator).
- Employ leadership and management skills in decision making to improve nursing care delivery and the care environment.
- Collaborate with the interprofessional teams to improve nursing care and health care services.
- Contribute to knowledge dissemination through scholarly activities and communication.
- Use critical synthesis to effectively manage resources and systems.
- Demonstrate competency in information analysis, management, and technology consistent with role preparation.
- Engage in lifelong learning and professional development.
