DNP Student Program Outcomes

Effective Fall 2025

• Knowledge for Nursing Practice: Synthesizes and translates nursing knowledge, including theory, research, and ways of knowing, as well as knowledge from other disciplines, distinguishing the practice of nursing, advancing clinical judgment, and promoting innovation in nursing practice.
• Person-Centered Care: Leads within healthcare systems to provide and evaluate person-centered care focused on the individual within multiple contexts, including family, important others, and community.
• Population Health: Analyzes scientific data and synthesizes concepts related to clinical prevention and population health in developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions to advance equitable population health outcomes.
• Scholarship for Nursing Practice: Applies relevant clinical scholarship and quality improvement methods to develop recommendations that improve nursing practice and the practice environment. Disseminates findings from evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and research to improve health care outcomes.
• Quality and Safety: Leads using current practice guidelines,  evidence-based interventions, and innovation to improve quality and safety for patients and providers.
• Interprofessional Partnerships: Facilitates an environment and culture of respect to support intra and interprofessional collaboration and quality patient care through effective communication, positive team dynamics and system structures.
• Systems-Based Practice: Designs, implements, and evaluates care delivery approaches, strategies, and policies within systems that meet the needs of patient populations and promote health equity.
• Information and Healthcare Technologies: Provides effective  leadership in using information technologies and informatics processes within health care systems resulting in information-based decisions supporting professional practice.
• Professionalism: Fosters one’s professional identity through the application of ethical principles and self-reflection, resulting in accountability, collaboration, advocacy, and leadership to improve nursing practice.
• Personal, Professional, & Leadership Development: Advocates for an environment that promotes respect, health, safety, and well-being for self and others. Demonstrates leadership through professional advocacy, mentoring, and engagement in lifelong learning.

Pre-2025 Student Learning Outcomes

• Scientific Underpinnings for Practice: Integrate nursing science and theory with knowledge and theory from ethics, the biophysical, psychosocial, cultural, and organizational sciences to develop and evaluate new practice approaches.
• Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking: Demonstrate leadership in the development and evaluation of care delivery approaches that meet current and future needs of patient populations from findings of nursing and other clinical sciences, as well as organizational, political and economic sciences. Develop and evaluate effective strategies and ensure accountability for leading organizations, addressing quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, and managing ethical dilemmas inherent in patient care and research.
• Clinical Scholarship and Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice: Use analytic methods to critically appraise existing evidence to determine best practices. Apply relevant findings and use quality improvement methods to develop recommendations to improve practice and the practice environment. Disseminate findings from evidence-based practice and research to improve health care outcomes.
• Information Systems/Technology and Patient Care Technology for the Improvement and Transformation of Health Care: Evaluate programs that monitor outcomes of care, care systems, and quality improvement including consumer use of health care information systems. Provide leadership in the evaluation and resolution of ethical and legal issues within health care systems relating to the use of information, information technology, communication networks and patient care technology.
• Health Care Policy and Advocacy in Health Care: Demonstrate leadership in the critical appraisal, development, and/or implementation of institutional, local, state, federal, and international health policy.
• Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes: Collaborate using communication, consultative, and leadership skills, with inter professional and inter professional teams to improve quality and safety in health care.
• Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving the Nation’s Health: Analyze scientific data and synthesize concepts related to clinical prevention and population health in developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions to address health promotion and disease prevention efforts.