Cleveland State University

The Doctor of Nursing Practice places emphasis on clinical practice and leadership training. The DNP is instrumental in advancing a clinical nursing career. Cleveland State University’s DNP program uniquely prepares graduates to obtain the doctorate degree through the post baccalaureate degree and post masters degree entry points. The program provides the necessary coursework to obtain nurse practitioner certifications. Students have the option of choosing from two certification tracks: Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP). A Health Systems Leadership track is available for students with an post masters in nursing degree.

Program Goals

1. Synthesize knowledge derived from nursing science from other scientific disciplines as the basis for advanced nursing practice and innovative approaches to improve the health of individuals, aggregates and populations. (AACN Essential 1: Scientific Underpinnings for Practice; Essential #7: Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving the Nation’s Health; Essential #8: Advanced Nursing Practice.) 
2. Employ organizational and systems leadership to improve the quality and safety of individuals, aggregates, and populations. (AACN Essential 2: Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking.) 
3. Integrate clinical scholarship and utilization of analytical methods to identify best nursing practices. (AACN Essential 3: Clinical Scholarship and Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice.) 
4. Demonstrate leadership in the systems level evaluation, development, and implementation of information systems and related technologies for healthcare delivery that optimize outcomes for individuals, aggregates, and populations. (AACN Essential 4: Information Systems/Technology and Patient Care Technology for the Improvement and Transformation of Health Care.) 
5. Engage in advocacy by influencing policy throughout the various stages of the policy-making process at the institutional, local, state, national and/or global levels. (AACN Essential 5: Health Care Policy for Advocacy in Health Care.) 
6. Facilitate collaboration among inter-professional teams to ensure high-quality patient, system or population health outcomes. (AACN Essential 6: Inter-professional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes.)

In addition, the NOPF and AONE standards that apply to the BSN-DNP Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner tracks as well as the MSN-DNP Health Systems leadership tracks are integrated throughout the curriculum and course objectives.