Doctor of Nursing Practice - Online

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) is a post-baccalaureate or post-master’s program designed to provide an exemplary accredited academic and clinical education for nurses who will practice at the highest level. It offers the following role concentrations: Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner and Public Health Nurse Leader. Specific goals for the program are to graduate nurses who will: 1) engage in nursing practice using the advanced knowledge from nursing and related disciplines to improve health outcomes, 2) provide leadership and collaborate with leaders in other professions for change in systems of care, 3) synthesize and translate evidence from nursing and other disciplines to manage complex health problems, and 4) provide culturally proficient care to respond to health disparities and societal needs.

Core competencies essential for those preparing for direct care roles and for population-based roles build on eight essential content areas: 1) scientific underpinnings for practice, 2) organizational and systems leadership for quality improvement, and systems thinking, 3) clinical scholarship and analytic methods for evidence-based practice, 4) technology and information for the improvement and transformation of health care, 5) health-care policy for advocacy in health care, 6) interprofessional collaboration for improving patient and population healthcare outcomes, 7) clinical prevention and population health for improving the nation’s health, and 8) advanced nursing practice for improving the delivery of patient care.

Admission Criteria 

Applicants to the DNP program must choose one of the role concentrations, either Family Nurse Practitioner, or Public Health Nurse Leader and indicate on their application to which role they are applying.  Applicants must meet the entrance requirements of the University of Massachusetts Graduate School and the College of Nursing. Each applicant must be a graduate of a nationally accredited school of nursing and hold a current professional license.

Applicants must present evidence of the following: Official transcripts from colleges/universities attended, baccalaureate or master’s degree in nursing, or an associate degree in nursing and a non-nursing baccalaureate degree, GPA of 3.0 (B) or higher, two letters of recommendation, scholarly writing sample e.g., scholarly paper, publication, statement of professional goals, current Resume or CV, documentation of professional licensure and certifications, evidence of completion of undergraduate statistics and health assessment course or equivalent if required by specialty and TOEFL scores where applicable.

Application deadline is December 15 each year.

Post-Baccalaureate

Students must meet the requirements of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Graduate School and have a baccalaureate degree from a nationally accredited school of nursing or be an RN with a non-nursing baccalaureate degree. The College of Nursing uses the degree-granting institution Grade Point Average (GPA) as one measure of an applicant’s academic potential. A successful applicant will typically have a GPA of 3.0 or above (on a 4.0 scale). If the GPA is lower than 3.0, applicants may still apply and be considered for admission, but may wish to submit a Graduate Record Exam (GRE) score if they believe that the GPA does not accurately reflect their abilities.

Other requirements include official transcripts from all graduate and undergraduate programs attended, documentation of RN licensure, sample of scholarly writing, a written statement of professional goals, two letters of recommendation, TOEFL scores if needed, a course in elementary statistics and a course in health assessment if the graduate plan of study includes advanced health assessment.

Post-Master’s

The College of Nursing offers a post-master’s entry to the Doctor of Nursing Practice. Admissions criteria are the same as for the post-baccalaureate applicant plus transcripts from all graduate programs attended. For all post-master’s entry applicants, an application review will determine D.N.P. degree requirements. A minimum of 36 credits post-master’s is required.

Course Requirements

The post-baccalaureate program of study is 79-81 credits, depending on the role concentration selected. The program must be completed in five years and includes theory, research, core courses, and clinical practica. Core courses for all role concentrations required include NURSING 603, 630, 725, 701, 704, 735, 715; N690E, 630; SCH-MGMT 680, Capstone, and DNP Immersion course is also required. Additional Public Health courses required by role concentration can be viewed at www.umass.edu/nursing. All non-nursing course descriptions can be viewed in this course catalog under their respective departments.  The course requirements for post-master’s students will vary, depending on their prior coursework and an individual plan of study will be created upon admission.

Further information may be obtained from: Karen Ayotte, DNP Program Office, College of Nursing, 022 Skinner Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-0420, tel. (413) 545-1302 or kayotte@nursing.umass.edu.