NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay

What does the DNP represent to you? What do you hope to accomplish with a DNP? Why do you want to pursue a DNP?

For me, earning a DNP degree represents the next necessary stepping stone in my personal and professional development. I want to continue my involvement in clinical practice after I finish the degree, therefore DNP option is more preferable to me than traditional PhD. I have left my career in finance and entered the healthcare field with a view to caring for individual patients and thus increasing the nation’s wellbeing. Although administration and research are attractive career pathways, my preference is clinical practice, which allows for direct human contact with the patient. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

Every time I enter a new therapeutic relationship, I feel great pressure and responsibility. I have full awareness that health and probably happiness of each particular patient are in my hands, and for this reason I have no moral reason to fail or underperform. In order to excel, I need to expand my current knowledge on a continuous basis. Lifelong learning is nowhere more important that in the healthcare field: as new treatments or instruments are being introduced, they have to be immediately applied in practice, since often whether a person lives or dies is a matter of seconds. I strongly deem DNP will make me a more qualified professional and enabled to keep up to date with the latest medical development relevant for clinical practice. As American healthcare system becomes more and more complex, knowledge which is increasingly advanced is required to make it work effectively and for the benefit of all. I support the 2004 proposal by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to make the DNP degree compulsory for all advanced practice nurses by 2015. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

On the other hand, DNP is still an advanced post-graduate degree. Apart from patient care, I would like to teach as a professor at a university in the future. I see this as a perfect opportunity to contribute to the nursing profession, share my knowledge and hopefully inspire other nurses by my commitment to this honorable profession. Being a teacher or mentor is a very fulfilling and rewarding role, since it gives a feeling that your intellectual achievements are being passed on to the next generation of healthcare practitioners.

Furthermore, there are certain personal qualities I would like to develop further by studying for DNP. For instance, stronger leadership skills for practice and health care delivery are cited as one of the outcomes of DNP completion. Also, I believe DNP program will allow me to deal with ethical issues in a more appropriate manner as they arise in the course of clinical practice. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

So, my motivation for pursuing a DNP is threefold. First of all, I believe the program will make me a more skilled clinical practitioner. Secondly, it will give me a possibility to teach at the university level and transfer my knowledge at some point of time. Last but not least, I will become a more ethically aware and leadership oriented professional after competing the degree.

tudents are encouraged to follow this DNP Project Process Guide and work with assigned faculty to ensure that all steps are followed in order to expedite completion. Documents for the DNP Project can be found on the Center for Research Quality (CRQ) website in the Forms and IRB sections. Please ensure you are using the current version by checking the date in the footer of the document. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

Roles and Stakeholders:

? Student – Owner of the process checklist and candidate for the DNP degree.
? DNP Project Committee Chair (Chair) – Assigned to the Student as practicum faculty in NURS 8410. Leads the supervisory committee. May serve as context expert or methodologist.
? DNP Project Committee Member (Member) – Assigned to the committee during NURS 8400 as one of three members of the supervisory committee. May serve as context expert or methodologist.
? DNP Project URR Member (URR) – University Research Review (URR) member, assigned to committee during NURS 8400. This individual serves a dual role as a consulting committee member and the designated representative of the DNP program and Walden University to ensure that doctoral level scholarly standards for the university are met. Please note: Responsibility for providing mentoring of related to the content and methods of the project rests with the primary committee members.
? chsadmin@waldenu.edu – Group mailbox of the College of Health Sciences administration. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper
? dnp@waldenu.edu – Dedicated group mailbox of Walden’s Office of Student Research Administration (OSRA) for DNP project committees. Used to monitor movement of DNP Project documents between Chair and URR member, and coordinate movement of DNP Project documents with other involved parties such as the Form & Style reviewer and the CAO designee.
? DNP Program Director
? School of Nursing Research Coordinator
? Form & Style Reviewer – Undertakes the Form & Style review of the Final Project Paper.
? Chief Academic Officer (CAO) – Chief Academic Officer of Walden University (or designate). The CAO is responsible for the academic functions and integrity of the University including final university level approval all doctoral capstone experiences, dissertations, or projects.
Definitions

? DNP Premise (Premise) – A brief introduction to the DNP Project that a student wishes to conduct, used to determine whether the project is appropriate before development of the DNP Project Proposal. See NURS 8410 for more information about the Premise.
? DNP Project Proposal (Proposal) – A detailed plan to conduct a DNP Project, intended to provide the DNP Project Committee with all information needed to determine whether a DNP Project may proceed as planned, or whether further revision is required.
? DNP Project Proposal Package (Proposal Package) – A series of documents including various steps of the Proposal review process. The Proposal Package includes a clean copy of the Proposal, a Turnitin Report, one (or more) Minimum Standards Rubrics, and a DNP Project Checklist containing any feedback or comments from the committee. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper
? Final DNP Project Paper (Final Paper) – A paper reporting a completed DNP Project.
? Final DNP Project Paper Package (Final Paper Package) – A series of documents including various steps of the Final Paper review process. The Final Paper Package includes a clean copy of the Project Paper, a Turnitin Report, one (or more) Minimum Standards Rubrics, and a DNP Project Checklist containing any feedback or comments from the committee..
? DNP Project Committee (Committee) – A group of scholar-practitioners assembled to supervise the DNP Project. The Committee consists of a Chair, a Member, and a URR member. Chairs/Members will serve as content or methods experts, while the URR ensures that projects meet institutional-level doctoral standards.
? DNP Project Minimum Standards Rubric (MSR) – A rubric that aids determination of whether the Project meets minimum standards for a DNP Project Proposal and/or Final Paper. Each member completes an individual MSR at the proposal stage and final project paper stage. The MS is not a cumulative document.
? DNP Project Checklist (Checklist) – A document that provides detailed information about how a Proposal and/or Final Paper addresses various necessary elements of a DNP Project. The Checklist is a cumulative document. The entire committee’s comments from start to finish of the DNP Project will be included on the same DNP Project Checklist.
? DNP Project Final Quality Rubric (FQR): A rubric that aids in measurement of overall quality of a DNP Project and its associated Final DNP Project Paper. This rubric is only used when minimum standards have been met for the final DNP Project Paper.
Communication Guidelines. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

? E-mails should comply with the following e-mail subject line naming convention:
“<Student Last Name, First Initial>_<Stage>_<Step>
e.g., “BrownJ_Proposal_3a

? DNP Project papers (proposals, etc.) should be sent as MS Word documents and named according the following convention:
“<Student Last Name, First Initial>_<Stage>_<Step>_
e.g., “BrownJ_Proposal_3a.docx”
Or, if a faculty member is sending a document back with feedback:
“<Student Last Name, First Initial>_<Stage>_<Step>_< Last Faculty Reviewer>
e.g., “BrownJ_Proposal_3b_Stepans”

? DNP rubrics, checklists, Turnitin reports, and other documents should be appended with;
“<Student Last Name, First Initial>_<Last Faculty Editor>”
e.g., “DNP_MSR_BrownJ_Stepans”

? All E-mails should begin with the names of the Student, Chair, Second Committee Member, and URR, identified by role.
? Requests for review should be completed within 14 days, though quicker turnaround will be appreciated if possible.
? The following is an example of an e-mail request for review from a Chair to a Member. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

“E-Mail Subject line: ArmstrongN_Proposal_3a

Student: Jacqueline Brown
Chair: Stoerm Anderson (Methods)
Member: MaryBeth Stepans (Content)
URR: Faisal Aboul-Enein

Dear Dr. Stepans,

As Chair, I am requesting your review as committee member of Jacqueline Brown’s proposal. Attached, please find:

? A clean copy of the DNP Project Proposal
? A copy of the Turnitin report
? A completed copy of the DNP Project Minimum Standards Rubric
? A completed copy of the DNP Project Checklist

Please reply to all acknowledging that you have received the documents and will complete the review within 14 days of this request.”
Step 1: Complete the DNP Premise in NURS 8410

1a – NURS 8410 Student: Develops a Premise that concisely describes the DNP Project that they wish to undertake. The premise should be submitted by the end of Week 6 of that course. As with all DNP Project related documents, the Student should anticipate the need to revise based upon faculty (who serves as DNP Project Chair) feedback. Early submission for formative feedback is recommended.

Note: Faculty in NURS 8410 will assume the role of Chair and will follow students through courses 8400, 8500, and 8510 in each subsequent quarter. Students will also be enrolled in NURS 8700 (a companion course designed specifically to work on the DNP Project) with their chair during each subsequent quarter. Students who require additional time to complete their DNP Project following NURS 8510 will be able to enroll in NURS 8701 to continue work on their DNP Project with their Chair. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

1b – NURS 8410 Faculty: Guides development of the Premise in the course, providing feedback as necessary such that the final Premise meets guidelines as required in course materials. Upon satisfactory completion of a Premise that describes an appropriate and feasible DNP Project, faculty will forward the Premise to the DNP Program Director for final approval.

1c – DNP Program Director: Reviews and approves, or requests revision and resubmission of, the Premises, returning them to NURS 8410 faculty for distribution to students within 14 days of receipt.

1d – NURS 8410 Faculty: Returns Premises to students. If revision is required, faculty will return to step (1b). Students who do not complete and receive approval for a Premise by the end of NURS 8410 will still be permitted to enroll in NURS 8400. Students must receive approval for the Premise prior to proceeding with the DNP Project Proposal approval as outlined in Steps 2 and 3. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

Note: Students are encouraged to begin development of the full DNP Project Proposal development as soon as they receive approval of the DNP Project Premise to proceed with the project as quickly as possible. Students should anticipate multiple revisions of the DNP Project Proposal. The sooner the first draft of the proposal is completed and submitted to the faculty chair (even in the latter portion of NURS 8410, if feasible), the sooner they will receive feedback and be able to begin making revisions.
Step 2: Complete the DNP Proposal

2a – Student: Works with his or her Chair in NURS 8400 and NURS 8700 to develop a Proposal that is ready for distribution to the Committee by the end of NURS 8400. As with all DNP Project related documents, the Student should anticipate the need for revisions based upon chair/committee feedback.

2b – NURS 8400 Faculty Member: Serves as DNP Project Chair and supports development of the Proposal, in accordance with the DNP Project MSR and Checklist. Notifies and coordinates with the SON Research Coordinator to form the remainder of the Committee. Supervises the NURS 8700 companion course, which focuses specifically on the DNP Project. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

2c – SON Research Coordinator: Assists DNP Project Chair to identify committee members and liaisons between DNP Program Director and OSRA to officially appoint DNP Project Committee.

2d – DNP Program Director: Coordinates with the SON Research Coordinator, and provides final approval for the DNP Project Committee appointments to be submitted for official appointment by the OSRA.

2e – Walden/CHS/OSRP Administration: Assigns the Student, Chair, Member, and URR a confirmation of committee assignment within two weeks of their assignment in step 2d.
Step 3: Develop and Obtain Committee Approval of the DNP Project Proposal

3a – DNP Project Chair: When both Student and Chair feel that the Proposal meets requirements of the MSR and Checklist, the Chair will e-mail the Proposal Package to the Member, copying the student.* Please follow the file name and e-mail subject line naming conventions. Chairs are encouraged to keep all committee members informed regarding the progress of the proposal. For example, to notify the URR when the proposal has been sent to the member for formal review so that the URR knows the request for review will likely be sent to them in the near future.

*If the Proposal has returned to this step from a later step, please use a new MSR, but continue to use to the same Checklist to cumulatively document all revisions and requirements. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

3b – DNP Project Committee Member: Reviews and returns the Proposal with comments, requests for revision, MSR, and Checklist in an e-mail to the Chair, copying the student. Please follow the file name and e-mail subject line naming conventions. The Member has 14 calendar days to review and return the Proposal to the Chair.
3c – DNP Project Chair: Works with the Student to ensure all revisions required by the Member for approval (if any are identified in the proposal, MSR, and/or checklist) are completed prior to proceeding to the URR review. If the Proposal was approved by the Member in step 3b, the revised Proposal will move forward to the URR in step 3d. The Chair will e-mail the Proposal Package to the URR, copying Student and dnp@waldenu.edu. Please follow the file name and e-mail subject line naming conventions. If the Proposal was not approved in step 3b, the process will return to step 3a.

3d – DNP Project URR: If any revisions to the Proposal are required by the URR, the Proposal is ‘Not Approved’. If no Proposal revisions are required by the URR, the Proposal is ‘Approved’. The URR will review/return the Proposal with comments, requests for revision, MSR, and Checklist in an e-mail to the Chair, copying the Member and dnp@waldenu.edu. In this e-mail, the URR will state that he or she has reviewed and confirmed the Turnitin report of the Student’s proposal. Please follow the file name and e-mail subject line naming conventions. If the Proposal is ‘Not Approved’, proceed to process step 3e. If Proposal is ‘Approved’, proceed to process step 3g. The URR has 14 calendar days to review and return the Proposal to the Chair.
3e – DNP Project Committee Chair: Reviews feedback and revisions required by the URR and contacts the Student to address the feedback and revisions. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

3f – Student: Works with the Chair to revise the Proposal as required, documenting revisions on the Checklist. The process now returns to step 3a.

NOTE: In cases where committee members disagree with revisions deemed necessary by the URR member, it is important that the Chair, Member and URR meet to discuss areas of disagreement and work to resolve any issues before e-mailing the student. In these cases, the Chair may defer to the expertise of the Member to ascertain the value of such required revisions as appropriate based on the Member’s areas of expertise. As described in the URR Appeals Process, (see page 14 of the URR Manual found on the CRQ website) the Chair or Member (as appropriate given content or methodological expertise role) will need to provide a justification of why the proposed revision is inappropriate. It is not acceptable to decline to address a required revision without justification.

3g – Student: Upon approval of the Proposal by the Chair, Member, and URR, the Student will coordinate with Chair and Member to determine three different dates/times that all three can attend an oral defense conference call. (The URR is not required to attend to the oral defense).

3h – DNP Project Chair: Completes and e-mails the Oral Defense Conference Call Request Form, which can be found on the CRQ website at least 7 business days before the defense date to dnp@waldenu.edu.

3i – OSRA (dnp@waldenu.edu): E-mails confirmation that the oral defense conference call has been scheduled to the student, Chair, and Member.

3j – Student: Prepares a PowerPoint presentation with no more than 20 slides (the Student will have 20 minutes to present) and e-mail the PPT file to the Chair and Member no later than 3 business days prior to the scheduled Oral Defense Conference Call. Students should use the approved Proposal as a guide for presentation development. Students are strongly encouraged to submit a draft of their PowerPoint presentation to the Chair prior to the aforementioned deadline to allow time for feedback and revision of the PowerPoint presentation. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

3k – Student: E-mails the Chair and Member one day prior to the Oral Defense Conference Call to remind the committee of the oral defense. The URR is not required to attend the oral defense. The Oral Defense Conference Call will be recorded and archived for 30 days.

3l – DNP Project Committee Chair, DNP Project Committee Member, Student: Participate in the Oral Defense Conference Call. The Chair and Member assign one of three possible outcomes: Pass (P), Pass with required modifications to the Proposal (PM), or Fail (F). If the outcome is ‘P’, proceed to process step 3m. If the outcome is ‘PM’, the Student will revise the proposal according to requested revisions and proceed to process step 3m. If the outcome is ‘F’, return to step 3g.

Note: the PM designation is appropriate for relatively minor modifications to the proposal. The Chair will also consult with the committee URR in the highly unlikely event that the committee stipulates major modifications to the proposal during the oral to ensure progress is equally support by all members of the committee.
3m – Chair: Following approval of the oral defense, the Chair submits a clean copy of the final, approved Proposal and a completed Proposal Approval Form (found on the Walden CRQ website) to dnp@waldenu.edu, copying the student, Member, URR, and the SON Research Coordinator.
Step 4: The Institutional Review Board (IRB) Ethics Approval Process

Documents such as the IRB application, sample consent form, and sample letters of cooperation documents are located at http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/researchcenter/orec/application

4a – Student: Submits the Ethics Pre-Application, which is the first step in the ethics approval process. This step is designed to prevent students’ completion of unnecessary forms. The purpose of the Ethics Pre-Application is to permit the IRB to help the student determine which ethics form(s), partner approvals, and review steps a doctoral project would require to move from proposal phase to execution phase.

Students can submit the pre-IRB application form to ethicsdnp@waldenu.edu at any time after having an approved premise, but the ideal time is four-to-eight weeks before the proposal defense, to ensure that the IRB is providing guidance regarding the final set of capstone activities. (Discrepancies will result in delays.) After receiving the completed Ethics Pre-application, the IRB will send the student one of the following:
(a) confirmation that the IRB should be able to provide ethics approval based on this form alone once the proposal is formally approved; or
(b) a list of the documents and approvals that will be required for the IRB’s ethics approval of the proposed project; or
(c) a request for more information in order to determine which forms and documentation are needed for the IRB’s ethics approval of the project. NURS 8701 – DNP Project Completion Essay Paper

4b – Student: Once student receives guidance from IRB staff regarding which materials are required, student submits those materials to the Chair for accuracy and feedback. Errors result in delays to IRB approval as the IRB will need to return the application and/or associated documents for corrections. If Students do not have the NIH certificate from NURS 8200, they may retrieve it from the NIH website. This certificate must be completed every five years.

Please note: The most common causes of IRB delays are inconsistencies in the IRB materials. Inconsistencies tend to occur when the student completed the materials very early in proposal development, but failed to completely update the IRB materials to reflect the final set of participant recruitment and data collection procedures.

4c – Chair: The chair reviews documents submitted in step 4b and completes any Chair sections on the IRB documentation. These documents are returned to the Student for submission to the IRB.

4d – Student: Submits the IRB materials to ethicsdnp@waldenu.edu. Student must CC the chair on all submissions to the IRB so the IRB can confirm the chair’s approval of the submission.

4e – IRB: Reviews IRB materials within 10 business days for expedited review or 15 business days for studies requiring full board review due to recruitment of vulnerable participants (e.g., children, hospital patients, intellectually disabled adults, etc). The IRB will return its decision or requests for revisions to the Student, copying the Chair. It is typical for IRB approval to involve a couple rounds of correspondence (each round taking 14-21 days, depending on whether vulnerable participants are involved). This means students should allow at least 4-6 weeks for IRB review.