DNP Projects
Doctoral education, whether practice or research, typically requires that you complete a specific project that demonstrates synthesis of your work and lays the groundwork for future scholarship. Your final DNP project produces a tangible and deliverable academic product focusing on a change that impacts health care outcomes either through direct or indirect care.
The final DNP product documents outcomes of the student’s educational experiences, provides a measurable medium for evaluating immersion experiences, and demonstrates the student’s growth in knowledge, expertise, and leadership.
All DNP Projects Should:
- Focus on a change that impacts health care outcomes either through direct or indirect care.
- Have a systems (micro-, meso-, or macro- level) or population/aggregate focus.
- Demonstrate implementation in the appropriate arena or area of practice.
- Include an evaluation of processes and/or outcomes (formative or summative).
- DNP projects should be designed so that processes and/or outcomes will be evaluated to guide practice and policy. Clinical significance is as important in guiding practice as statistical significance is in evaluating research.
- Provide a foundation for future practice scholarship.
Types of DNP Projects
This list reflects a range of types of DNP projects. This is a sample list and is not exhaustive.
- Translate research into a practice change
- Quality improvement (care processes, patient outcomes)
- Implement and evaluate evidence based practice guidelines
- Analyze policy: develop, implement, evaluate or revise policy
- Design and use databases to retrieve information for decision making, planning, evaluation
- Conduct financial analyses to compare care models and potential cost savings, etc.
- Implement and evaluate innovative uses of technology to enhance/evaluate care
- Design and evaluate new models of care
- Provide leadership of inter-professional and /or intra-professional collaborative projects to implement policy, evaluate care models, transitions, etc.
- Collaborate with researchers to answer clinical questions
- Collaborate on legislative change using evidence
- Work with lay and/or professional coalitions to develop, implement or evaluate health programs (such as health promotion and disease prevention programs for vulnerable patients, groups or communities)
Examples of Previous DNP Projects
- The Development and Evaluation of a Toolkit on Early Recognition of Sepsis and Sepsis Survivor Outcomes Following Discharge for Registered Nurses
- The Effect of a Self-Management Education Program on Self-Efficacy in Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes
- The Effect of an Education Program on Renal Diet and Self-Care on Self-Efficacy in Hemodialysis Patients
- The Effect of an Education Program on Self-Care Beliefs in Adults with Hypertension
- The Development and Evaluation of a Toolkit on Stress Reduction for Critical Care Nurses
- The Effect of a Mindfulness Program Utilizing HeartMath on Perceived Stress in Critical Care Nurses
- The Effect of an Evidence-Based Education Program about Delirium and the use of CAM-ICU on Attitude about Delirium in Critical Care Nurses
- The Effect of an Education Program and a Machine-Based Learning Algorithm for Early Sepsis Recognition on Sepsis Interventions Beliefs and Intent in Acute Care Registered Nurses
- The Development and Evaluation of a Toolkit for Perioperative Nurses on Evidence-Based Practices in the Management of Postoperative Pain
- The Effect of an Education Program on Attitudes Toward Bariatric Patients in Surgical Registered Nurses.
- The Effect of an Education Program on Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines in Parents of School Age Children
- The Effect of a Prenatal Infant Feeding Education Program on Infant Feeding Intentions and Prenatal Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy in Pregnant Women
- The Effect of a Nurse Practitioner Led Education Program on Self-Care Beliefs in Heart Failure Patients
- The Effect of an Online Self-Learning Module on Perception of Rounding in Registered Nurses in an Acute Care Setting
- The Effect of an Education Program Using a Serious Illness Communication Protocol on Palliative Care Self-Efficacy in Advanced Care Nurses in Long term Care
- The Effect of an Education Program on Evidence-Based Practice Self-Efficacy in Ambulatory Care Registered Nurses
- The Effect of An Education Program on Perception of the Work Environment in Primary Care Team Members in a Patient Centered Medical Home
