Nursing Introduces Executive DNP
The School of Nursing will introduce an Executive Doctor of Nursing Practice (EDNP) in September, designed for current nurse leaders who are seeking a terminal degree while remaining in a leadership role within a hospital or healthcare agency.
Several years ago, SON launched the DNP program, a clinical degree in an advanced specialty of nursing practice, including anesthesia, family, or psychiatric nurse practitioner.
The EDNP is not a clinical degree, notes Dr. Lynn Babington, dean of the School of Nursing. Though the program is based on a DNP core, “content focuses on executive leadership skills, fiscal and human resource management and emerging technology to ensure that the best science is brought to the patient’s bedside,” she says. Students will study systems management, evidence-based practice, informatics, research translation, and health policy. The EDNP will expand the graduate’s career opportunities, from health policy development to teaching, research, and management.
The three-year, cohort program will be delivered online in a hybrid format. Dr. Meredith Wallace Kazer is the program director.
Over the years, healthcare needs and delivery have become increasingly complex, and additional knowledge in non-nursing subject areas has been identified as necessary in order to improve patient outcomes and give nurses the tools needed to take on leadership roles within the healthcare team. For that reason, The American Association of Colleges of Nursing voted to transition all practitioner programs to the DNP level by 2015.
“Our EDNP program provides practicing nurse leaders with the skills and tools to be change agents and highly successful executives in the healthcare system,” says Dr. Babington.
