Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

The Washburn DNP-prepared advanced practive nurse can play an important role in transforming health care for patients/clients, families, organizations, and healthcare delivery systems. In today's complex and rapidly changing health care environments, the need has never been greater. Your chosen track as a family nurse practitioner or psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner is desined to prepare you as a leader for improving patient outcomes and promoting innovation in health care. With a strong emphasis on systems thinking and quality improvement, the DNP graduate enters the workforce prepared to work with individuals and population across sytems of care.
Career Forecast Bright OutlookAverage Salary $120,610online
NP checking carotid artery for pulse

Doctor of Nursing Practice at Washburn

The Washburn DNP program is offered in a distance accessible online format that offers advanced practice education for nurses according to their entry education level, certification, and practice interest.

Specialty tracks available include:

  1. Family nurse practitioner (FNP)
  2. Psychiatric nurse practitioner (PMHNP)

Our program is designed for students to work while completing their degree. The online structure allows students to access learning activities when it best fits their schedules, with faculty mentoring to help pace students through required activities and competency attainment. Paired with “live” virtual classes that are held at pre-arranged times, students participate in an active learning environment with faculty and peers. The Washburn DNP is a summer start program unless a student has succesfull completed an approved grauate statistics course within the past ten years.

Selected on-campus experiences are designed to support and expand online learning for BSN-DNP students when they first enter the program, and to provide hands-on instruction in performing advanced patient assessments and office-based interventions for students seeking to become family nurse practitioners. Faculty are skilled educators, who also maintain active clinical practices and bring real-world experiences into the student learning environment

Whether you are soon to graduate with your BSN, or have been practicing as a BSN-prepared RN for many years, the BSN to DNP program is the pathway to the future of advanced practice nursing. The program is designed to meet the needs of the working RN. 

Depending on the specialty area chosen the program is 74 to 76 credit hours which includes a minimum of 1000 clock hours of direct patient care. Students in this program are required to attend in-person orientation and/or training sessions (held on campus) one time per year.

Sample Course Sequences*

This program is for APRNs who are licensed in their state of residence and nationally certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner, Adult Nurse Practitioner, Adult/Gerontology Nurse Practitioner, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, or Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.

  1. If you are not seeking a second certification the program is 40 credit hours.
  2. For those seeking a second certification as a PMHNP, 14 additional credit hours are required* to meet the new specialty didactic and clinical requirements.  Clinical experiences are individually determined to add breadth and depth to your advanced practice (with a minimum of 540 clock hours of direct patient care included in the DNP program).
  3. For those who have completed two NP certifications (licensed as an FNP/ANP/AGNP/PNP and completed the PMHNP-Certificate program) and who desire to earn the DNP, the program is 35 credit hours.
 * A gap analysis will be done at the of application to determine if advanced pathophysiology, advanced pharmacology, and advanced health assessment (3 P's) covered lifespan content, and if yo have been actively practicing as a NP in your current specialty. If not actively practicing, the 3 P's must have been successfully completed in the last five year.

Sample Course Sequences*

This program is for masters prepared nurses who are not licensed as an APRN-NP in their state of residence.  This program is 70-72 credit hours depending on the specialty chosen with a minimum of 1000 clock hours of direct patient care. Students in the Family Track (FNP) are required to attend in-person orientation and/or training sessions (held on campus) one time per year.  

Sample Course Sequences*

 

Clinical Hours

Preceptor-guided clinical experiences provide DNP students with a minimum of 1000 hours of direct patient care. An MSN to DNP applicant who is nationally certified as a nurse practitioner at the time of program entry may be awarded up to 500 clock hours toward the minimum 1000 clock hour requirement.

Students work with faculty and program staff to arrange clinical placements.  Whenever possible, students identify suitable preceptors and sites that are convenient or close to where they live. Faculty provide oversight and supervision of students at approved clinical sites. 

Jobs and Opportunities

CAREER FORECAST: bright outlook
The need for primary care and psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners is driven by a predicted shortage of primary care physicians and psychiatrists. Additional practitioners are needed due to an aging population and increased emphasis on preventive healthcare services.

Average Salary

$120,610 (FNP)
$130,813 (PMHNP)

Job Growth

36%

(2016-2026)

Faculty Ratio

1:8

(clinical supervision)
CNNE Accreditation logoThe baccalaureate degree program in nursing, master’s degree program in nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice program and post-graduate APRN certificate program at Washburn University are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

GET IN TOUCH WITH School of Nursing

School of Nursing
Petro Allied Health Center
1700 SW College Ave.
Topeka, KS 66621-1117

Phone & Fax
Ph: 785.670.1525
Fax: 785.670.1032

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