Doctoral Degree
The School of Nursing offers one doctoral program - the Doctor of Nursing Practice.
The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is designed to prepare nurses at an advanced level of nursing science. The program emphasizes the development of the student’s capacity to impact the clinical setting as a leader and to utilize clinical research to improve and transform health care. The program is based on the understanding that nursing provides services, which include the direct care of individual clients, management of care for populations, administration of nursing systems, and development and implementation of health policy. Advanced practice nurses with practice doctorates will address significant practice issues in a scholarly way, adopt broad system perspectives for health promotion and risk reduction, and act as agents of change to transform client/community care, participate in the ongoing evaluation of health care outcomes, and assist in the translation of research leading to positive nursing practice changes. In keeping with the mission of Indiana Wesleyan University, courses throughout the program will incorporate the integration of faith.
The Doctor of Nursing Practice program will prepare students to:
- Lead healthcare delivery teams to meet the needs of diverse populations.
- Synthesize principles of leadership in the evaluation and resolution of ethical and legal issues within healthcare systems.
- Apply creative and culturally sensitive approaches in the comprehensive assessment of healthcare systems.
- Integrate character, scholarship, and leadership in advanced nursing practice.
- Develop innovative practice approaches based on theories from nursing and other disciplines.
- Influence healthcare policy from an interprofessional perspective to improve health outcomes.
