DNP Project

[DrCOVID, DNP]

The number one thing I would say is start looking at clinical sites. This was a huge problem at my school (as for somehow, the medical school and pharmacy schools both have clinics set up for students, while nursing did not). This mean most students had to find their own spots. I would recommend networking NP events where you can face to face with providers and ask about precepting with whoever you like. If your school has affiliations, (big university state systems should) then you don't need to worry about it. My smaller private costly program didn't...

I know the program structures are different, but here are some more things to think about - What specialty are you choosing? This affects where you will do clinic and your capstone project. You do all your hours whatever you are certifying in. Capstone has to be related to your specialization area as well.

Start thinking about your capstone project. You have to pick a clinic to do it with, and I would highly recommend a smaller private practice, than a big government organization. I bet you can imagine the mistake I made. Getting through the red tape at a FQHC or the VA is an absolute nightmare when you are a student and have other things to do and a tight timeline. Google "Vanderbuilt DNP projects"; this will give you a great idea of what you are looking at doing. Ask about implementation time frame too, as many students thought they could get away with 5 weeks. My school ended up requiring at least 10 weeks, which in the middle of covid19 was a nightmare.

We had a lot of group projects. When you start, find the people you mesh with and keep close contact. Ones with good work ethics... this was another huge problem in my group LOL... Be prepared for lots of writing and APA manual work.

Some of this will vary depending on your program structure, but:

Year 1 is mostly classroom didactic and we did advanced patho, pharm and A&P. Year 2 you start rotating through clinics and conceptualize and start work on your capstone. Year three you do mostly capstone hours and patient clinic along with the diagnosis courses for your specialty and board prep.

I think my program was 600 capstone hours (IMO wayyy too much) and 600 patient care clinical hours. Or 500/700...

The faculty might have told you about some of these things. Having faculty that are accessible and a smaller class cohort was nice. Find the ones that are reasonable and work with you. I got really lucky, as there are some big PhD ladies that are super mother hens and not fun to work with. Feel free to ask me anything here or directly!

 But none of my cohort was able to work full time and do both the capstone and pt care hours and the hours required in year 3.

Yes, it is very relatively difficult. The larger/more government related, the worse (think many hoops to jump through, approval process). I got lucky ending up in a small private practice and helped another student with her hours by referring her to my clinic.  Even my faculty tried hard to get us in several hospitals that gave us the cold shoulder. Especially for some specialties like psych, options are limited. I would probably try to find a local private practice and go talk to the owner in person. 

[NursKam, MSN, RN, NP]

Thank you for your response. I am actually already an NP with my MSN, so I’m not worried about clinical sites and preceptors etc. I’m more curious about the capstone project, but I see you have addressed that as well. Thank your