D.N.P. Program Practicum
PRACTICUM MENTORS AND ACADEMIC AFFILIATION AGREEMENTS
Students are encouraged to seek mentors who will provide a mentoring opportunity and are appropriately prepared academically. Examples of possible practicum mentors may include nurse administrators, organization administrators, licensed clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, coordinators of care, and licensed physicians. The mentor provides a curriculum vitae to the student and the mentor is approved by course faculty. Mentors who are educationally prepared at the doctoral level or hold an advanced degree in business such as a master's in business administration (MBA) are preferred. This mentor may not be a family member or close friend.
Students will need to evaluate the preferred practicum site for the requirement for an affiliation agreement. This is an agreement between the site and Penn State University/Penn State College of Nursing. Some sites require that an affiliation agreement be reached before any practicum hours, including the D.N.P. project, may be started. This also applies to students who are employees of the potential practicum site. Affiliation agreements may take up to 12 months to complete so identifying the site early in the academic plan of study is essential. Students will email the Clinical Placement Coordinator with the name of their preferred practicum site. If an affiliation agreement does not exist between the site and Penn State, the student will submit a Site Affiliation Agreement Request Form to the Clinical Placement Coordinator. Once the form is submitted, Penn State College of Nursing will initiate contact with the site to determine if an affiliation agreement is required. Students will be advised throughout the agreement process. In some instances, an agreement may not be reached between the site and Penn State. In that case, the student will be required to select another option for the practicum/clinical site. It is important to have a primary site choice identified for the practicum courses and alternate sites in mind.
D.N.P. PROGRAM PRACTICUM EXPERIENCES
Professional development includes experiences the student pursues to develop as a D.N.P. leader. Each student is required to have 1000 practicum hours to complete the program. The practicum hours include activities that align with the D.N.P. Essentials. This does not include completing a literature review or writing/editing. Practicum hours do include planning and implementing the D.N.P. project. 450 hours are built into the required course work. 550 hours of practicum may be accepted from the master’s program if applicable to the D.N.P. Essentials. Leadership courses (NURS 832 and NURS 833) include a total of 150 hours of prescribed practicum experiences. The project development course, NURS 837, includes 75 practicum hours and the Project course (NURS 835) includes a total of 225 hours related to the project. The remaining practicum hours will be fulfilled within an individualized plan based on the student’s area of interest and are scheduled in NURS 834. Please note, practicum sites may be locations of employment, but the practicum hours may not be what a student does routinely as part of their job requirement. All practicum hours must be approved by the course faculty as part of the course expectations. It is expected that practicum hours in various courses not be repeated, but rather unique experiences intended to broaden the students development.
Below are examples beyond the core project objectives. Please note that each of the items below must align with 1) a D.N.P. Essential and 2) a current D.N.P. class which has allotted practicum hours.
D.N.P. program practicum experiences are designed to provide (AACN, 2015):
Systematic opportunities for feedback and reflection.
In-depth work/mentorship with experts in nursing, as well as other disciplines.
Opportunities for meaningful student engagement within practice environments.
Opportunities for building and assimilating knowledge for advanced nursing practice at a high level of complexity.
Opportunities for further application, synthesis, and expansion of learning.
Experience in the context of advanced nursing practice within which the final D.N.P. Project is completed.
Opportunities for integrating and synthesizing all of the D.N.P. Essentials and role requirements necessary to demonstrate achievement of defined outcomes in an area of advanced nursing practice.
Topical areas for practicum may include:
Processes of care
Safety/Quality
Organizational leadership
Professional leadership
Health policy
Healthcare economics
Ethical issues
Population health
Interprofessional care
Examples of possible practicum mentors/collaborators include:
Nurse administrator
Organization administrator
Licensed Clinical Nurse Specialist, licensed Nurse Practitioner, Coordinator of Care
Licensed Physicians
Examples of practicum locations :
Health policy internship
State Nurses Association
American Nurses Association
State Coalition of Nurse Practitioners
American Association of Nurse Practitioners
Professional organization involvement
Department of Health
Ethics consultation/committee
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) epidemiology program
Institute for Healthcare Improvement online courses on systems safety and quality
Examples for practicum hours may include:
Key Informant/Stakeholder Interviews
Executives, non-profit leaders, committee chairs, community leaders.
*This is a great way to network and determine problems within a practice setting.
Windshield Surveys
Complete a full analysis of a neighborhood, school, clinic, healthcare, legislative district
*Helpful early on to understand a setting, population, needs, and problems.
Professional Conferences
Present, help organize, serve on the board, or attend
*Provide your advisor with objectives. If solely attending, please receive advisor permission to receive approval for practicum hours. Complete a reflection of your experience. Conferences are a great way to network, expand professional knowledge, and it’s a gateway to future service.
Professional Leadership
Serve on a professional organization, health department, school or service board.
Complete an internship
Sit on a board of directors meeting
Serve on a committee
Start being a peer reviewer for a journal
Book Group/Journal Club
Start or participate in a professional reading/journal club and discuss evidence-based practice and research findings
Complete a Fellowship
Certification
Attend/participate in review activities that are moderated
Earn a specialty certification
Certification Boards
Write items/review test questions for a certification board
Serve on the board for a certification
Knowledge Translation in Healthcare
Quality improvement pilot/small projects: physical, communication, culture, safety, medications, infection control, etc.
NURS 834: D.N.P. CLINICAL PRACTICUM
The student enrolled in NURS 834 typically uses the practicum hours to advance clinical practice, explore potential areas of project interest and/or gain practicum experience that supports coursework required in the D.N.P. curriculum.
NURS 834 practicum experiences may include but are not limited to:
• Clinical practice experience
• Practice experience to determine where the project may be completed
• Practice experience internally within an organization for the purpose of networking (identifying key stakeholders) and planning a project
• Conference attendance (pre-approved by D.N.P. course faculty or D.N.P. adviser)
• Site visits
• Consultation with a national expert
• Participation on Boards, Professional Committees
• Participation in projects for professional organizations or other agencies
NURS 837 AND 835: D.N.P. PROJECT
The NURS 837 and 835 practicum hours support the project and are directly related to the implementation of the student's unique area of project interest and completion of the project (implementation through dissemination).
The practicum hours are conducted in collaboration with a mentor. The mentor is located within the agency in which the project is to be carried out. The mentor agrees to collaborate with the student to facilitate the identification, implementation, and completion of practicum hours that support the student's successful completion of practicum hours and the final project.
NURS 837 and 835 practicum experiences may include but are not limited to:
• Planning meetings internal and external to the organization where the project will be implemented
• Meetings with the mentor
• Implementation planning within the organization
• Implementation of the project to include:
o Collecting project data
o Working directly with a biostatistician to interpret data
o Performing independent and/or collaborative quantitative data analysis using statistical programs
o Working directly with qualitative research experts to interpret data
o Qualitative data analysis
o Working directly with the IRB or leaders within the organization to achieve and/or maintain approvals to proceed with or carry out the project
o Providing the organization’s key stakeholders, administrators, IRB, etc. updates on project progress