The goals of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program are as follows:
1. Prepare advanced nursing practice leaders in doctoral nursing education in the Jesuit tradition of social justice.
2. Prepare advanced nursing practice leaders to improve and extend health care to diverse populations.
3. Prepare advanced nursing practice leaders to evaluate scientific knowledge to ensure quality and improve outcomes in health care systems.
4. Prepare advanced nursing practice leaders to promote culturally relevant health care to reduce health disparities.
5. Prepare advanced nursing practice leaders to demonstrate information literacy to improve and transform health care.
6. Prepare advanced nursing practice leaders to influence health care policy.
Upon completion of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, graduates will be able to:
1. Analyze critical practice and system elements to provide comprehensive and ethically defensible health care delivery;
2. Design systems of care recognizing organizational dynamics and independent and interprofessional practices, which result in improved health status for populations;
3. Demonstrate leadership that facilitates health care system changes in practice delivery, incorporating behavioral health and resulting in improved quality of care in systems;
4. Evaluate new practice approaches based on the critical appraisal and integration of nursing, behavioral health, systems, and interprofessional sciences;
5. Use best available evidence to assure quality in clinical practice;
6. Lead the development of culturally relevant systems;
7. Evaluate system influences which can remediate health disparities globally;
8. Demonstrate information literacy in complex health care decision-making;
9. Provide leadership for health care that shapes health care financing, policy, regulation, ethics, and delivery.