Doctor of Nursing Practice-Online

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program was approved by the Board of Trustees of Loyola University New Orleans in May 2009 and will admit students in spring 2010 pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The program will initially admit post masters students who hold a masters degree as nurse practitioners in the specialization of Women's Health, Gerontology, Pediatrics, and Family/Adult and wish to pursue the practice doctorate, DNP.

• General Information and Application
• Mission of the Doctor of Nursing (DNP) Practice Program
• Goals and Objectives of the DNP Program
• Admission Requirements

Rankings + Honors:

• Celebrating over 30 years of Nursing education excellence
• Leader among US graduate programs in online degree education
• Our library is ranked #5 in the top 10 college library rankings by the Princeton Review for 2010
• All Doctor of Nursing Practice faculty hold doctorates

Post-Masters Curriculum

Students progress through the curriculum as a cohort following the rotations schedule below.

View Nursing Course Descriptions

DNP Clinical Practicum

1. The DNP program will require 512 hours of practice experience conducted in the practicum, and capstone courses beyond the master’s level. Those students (NPs) taking N950 will have an additional 64 practice hours. The total number of practice hours is 576.

2. Clinical experiences for DNP students will occur at health care organization sites in the state in which the nurse is licensed. The practice component is conducted with the assistance of graduate preceptors who practice in the community where the student lives. Goals and objectives of the clinical experience are negotiated with the student’s faculty committee and advisor. Oversight of the practice experience is the responsibility of the faculty.

3. The overall practice hours for the DNP are a minimum of 1000 hours of which 576 hours are satisfied by the post masters DNP curriculum. The remaining hours are validated in the masters curriculum by a transcripts analysis or a certified letter describing the number of practicum hours earned from the accredited school awarding the masters degree.

Capstone Project Course and Other Program Requirements

The Loyola University New Orleans Doctor of Nursing Practice degree is a terminal practice degree in the same sense as the M.D. (physicians), PharmD (pharmacists) and D.P.T. (physical therapists) degrees and requires a rigorous analytical capstone project. The practice doctorate differs from the Ph.D. in Nursing. The Ph.D. focuses on the generation of research for new knowledge and culminates in a dissertation by the student. The D.N.P., however, is focused on translating the scientific research generated by the Ph.D. to health care in a timely manner so that patients experience the best applications of science and practice. The D.N.P. degree includes an integrated practicum or practice immersion experiences that generate a final scholarly project as a vital part of the program. A completed scholarly practice portfolio provides evidence of student achievement of the Essentials and will result in at least one publishable scholarly paper to disseminate the results. The development, implementation and evaluation of this project will occur over three semesters throughout the practicum courses and culminates in the capstone course during the final semester. Each student will defend their DNP Capstone Project proposal in an open forum to an interprofessional committee of at least two members.

Student Progression

Students must maintain a cumulative of 3.0 GPA and not earn a grade below B- in any course to progress in the curriculum. Only DNP courses are calculated for the GPA.

Length of Time to Complete the Program

Students are required to complete the program within five years of their first term of enrollment.