DNP without nurse preceptor and project without patient care

[military spouse]

I find myself in a position where I don't have true access to a patient population and don't have access to a DNP or Phd. I've been trying to look into DNP programs, but it appears that those two issues may be tremendous roadblocks. Does anyone know if it is possible to find a DNP program with a physician as a preceptor and a non-patient related project? My current position is in management/leadership and that would be the type of program that would interest me. Thanks!

[IsabelK]

I went to Loyola University New Orleans. If you already have an MSN, they have an MSN to DNP executive leadership track or an NP track.

[FreudianSlip]

Military Spouse,

As far as having a DNP or PhD mentor, you should consider increasing your networking to find one-it will really help you with the process and development of your DNP project. You might try various forums and nursing orgs, as well as doing some cold calling at your local (or not local) universities. I personally did not know any nurses with terminal degrees but once I started this process of finding one, I found many resources-some helpful, some not. What most of these recommended to me was to find an expert in the area of my project interest to use as a mentor. They recommended finding relevant research on the area of my interest and then contacting the author, as well as posting on org forums in the area of interest. I did all of these things and eventually found a doctoral mentor, which was a huge relief.

Regarding not having access to a patient population, that's also an area that your mentor should be able to help you with. However, it seems many DNP projects are not connected directly to actual patient populations, as QI projects seem to be the norm. You might take a look at some of these projects for reference:

>> DNP Scholarly Projects

Hope that was helpful and good luck!