Nursing Practice (D.N.P.)

Purdue University
Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.)

Department of Nursing
College of Health and Human Services
Lee-Ellen C. Kirkhorn, Chair
Deborah Poling, Director Graduate Programs
260-481-6276 ~ ipfw.edu/nursing ~ Liberal Arts Building - 341

The Collaborative Doctor of Nursing Practice (CDNP) Program of Purdue University offers an innovative, practice-based doctoral degree for professional nurses. This online degree program allows students to learn from faculty experts at Indiana Purdue University Fort Wayne, Purdue University West Lafayette and Purdue University Calumet. The unique curriculum prepares students for advanced practice in a variety of settings and has two entry points:

Current Master of Science in Nursing student
Advanced practice graduate with a Master of Science in Nursing

The DNP curriculum is organized around the AACN Essentials for Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice. All students are required to take the Leadership Core, Evidence-based Practice Core, Cognates/Cognate Residencies, and complete an Evidence-Based Practice Inquiry Clinical Project. To establish a strong nursing knowledge foundation, students who are not advanced practice nurses are required to take NUR 50200–Pharmacotherapeutics in Primary Care, NUR 50300–Advanced Health Assessment, and NUR 50700–Physiologic Concepts for Advanced Practice Nursing or equivalent. Elective courses and cognates are selected by the student in collaboration with the committee chair or faculty advisor to build their area of expertise.

Advance Practice Nursing Curriculum

(for post- master’s APNs this will already be completed)

Leadership Core (12 Credits)

NUR 63200 Health Policy: Local to Global Cr. 3.
NUR 67800 Economics and Finance for Healthcare Cr. 3.
NUR 62500 History, Ethics and Innovations Cr. 3.
NUR 52500 Interdisciplinary Healthcare Informatics Cr. 3.

Evidence Based Practice Core (12 Credits)

The evidence based practice core focuses on developing skills to systematically evaluate published evidence for the purpose of making recommendations about systems and practice innovation that would improve system efficiency while simultaneously improving patient outcomes.

NUR 59900 Epidemiology Cr. 3.
NUR 62600 Biostatistics Cr. 3.
NUR 62400 Evidence Based Practice Cr. 3.
NUR 64200 System Approaches in Healthcare Cr. 3.

Cognate Course (3 Credits)

Typically students select one three-credit cognate course, depending on their area of interest. Examples of cognate options include Transitions and Quality Improvement (West Lafayette), Translation Science (Calumet) and Transformative Leadership (Fort Wayne).

Cognate Residencies (8 Credits)

One of the cognate residencies includes a 2 credit Health Policy residency that includes 128 clinical hours; students utilize leadership, motivation, and influence to evaluate and promote relationships within organizations that influence healthcare policy. Students take 6 additional residency credits and an additional 384 residency hours.

NUR 67300 Health Policy Residency Cr. 2. Lab Hours: 128
DNP Cognate Residency I Cr. 3. Lab Hours: 192

Elective (2 Credits)

Students select an elective course to fulfill the 43-credit requirement.

Evidence Based Practice Inquiry Clinical Project (6 Credits)

The DNP program culminates with a 6 credit and 384 clinical hours. Evidence Based Practice Inquiry project. Students develop, implement, and evaluate an evidence-based practice inquiry project aimed at improving a selected healthcare practice and systems. Each project must incorporate systems concepts, health policy, and healthcare economics.

DNP Practice Inquiry Project I
NUR 68700 Cr. 3. Lab Hours: 192
DNP Practice Inquiry Project II
NUR 68900 Cr. 3. Lab Hours: 192