Doctor of Nursing Practice

Prepare yourself to be a leader in the field of nursing by earning a DNP, the preferred credential for advanced practice nurses.

This program focuses on administrative, organizational, and systems leadership competencies to prepare you for a variety of nursing leadership positions. Because this degree focuses on practical contributions to the nursing field, it can be completed more quickly than a research-focused PhD. Topics covered in this program include leadership and ethics, policy and advocacy, nursing technology, global population health, and management. This DNP degree is not a clinical degree and is not designed to prepare advanced practice registered nurses for roles as nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse midwives, and certified nurse anesthetists.

Outcome goals and graduates' proficiency levels

Each doctoral program and specialization is designed around expected learning outcomes (see Expected Program Outcomes below). End of program performance is determined during the comprehensive exam and dissertation process. Because the work is unique to each learner's dissertation or research topic and the criteria for evaluation are aligned to that work, we do not collect data on proficiency levels for doctoral programs.

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)1, 2

Quality and Professional Relevance

  • The DNP curriculum incorporates The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice established by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).
  • Capella's BSN, MSN and DNP programs* are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
  • The DNP focuses on practical contributions to the nursing field and can be completed more quickly than a research-focused PhD.
  • The DNP is the preferred credential for advanced practice nurses and will be the required terminal degree for the profession by 2015.
  • Field experiences, along with many of your courseroom assignments, allow you to apply what you're learning and focus on your areas of interest.
  • Capella's DNP focuses on administrative, organizational, and systems leadership competencies to prepare you for a variety of nursing leadership positions.

Expected Program Outcomes

  1. Employ a science-based theoretical foundation to develop and evaluate new practices and approaches to health care delivery.
  2. Lead and create health and care delivery models for quality improvement.
  3. Evaluate and analyze theory and research-based methods to improve the reliability of health care practices and outcomes.
  4. Lead planning and implementation of health care technologies for quality improvement appropriate for specialized areas of practice.
  5. Develop, implement, and advocate for health care policy that meets the needs of specific populations.
  6. Employ inter-professional collaboration skills to improve patient and population health.
  7. Develop, implement, and evaluate evidence-based health promotion, prevention, and intervention service delivery models for individuals, aggregates, and populations.

1North Dakota residents are not eligible to enroll in this program at this time.

2North Carolina residents are currently not eligible to enroll in this program.

*The BSN, MSN and DNP degree programs at Capella University are accredited by the Commision on Collegiate Nursing Education, One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 530 Washington, DC, 20036, (202)887-6791.

Nursing Graduate Degree Program Graduates

Data from graduates across all graduate level nursing programs have been combined for these Career Outcomes results.

The graphs below show some key findings from Capella's Alumni Outcomes Survey. We use this information to help improve our courses, programs and services and to give you an idea of how alumni are using their degrees.

Satisfaction with Job Doctoral Degree Graduates
Transcript

Percentage of respondents who answered "strongly agree" or "agree."
Source: Responses to the Alumni Outcomes Survey one year after graduation. The data were collected during Q3 2015 - Q2 2016.


Career & Professional Accomplishments Doctoral Degree Graduates
Transcript

Percentage of respondents who indicated they had accomplished each item.
Source: Responses to the Alumni Outcomes Survey one year after graduation. The data were collected during Q3 2015 - Q2 2016.

Nursing Graduate Degree Program Graduates

Data from graduates across all graduate level nursing programs have been combined for these Student Experience results.

The graphs below show some key findings from Capella's Alumni Outcomes Survey. We use this information to help improve our courses, programs and services and to give you an idea of how alumni feel about Capella and what general skills and abilities they gained.

Satisfaction with Capella Doctoral Degree Graduates
Transcript

Percentage of respondents who answered affirmatively.
Source: Responses to the Alumni Outcomes Survey one year after graduation. The data were collected during Q3 2015 - Q2 2016.

Improvement in Skills and Abilities Doctoral Degree Graduates
Transcript

Percentage of respondents who rated themselves as "proficient" or "exceptional" on ability to demonstrate the skill or ability on the job.
Source: Responses to the Alumni Outcomes Survey one year after graduation. The data were collected during Q3 2015 - Q2 2016.


Expense, completion, & career information (Gainful Employment)

Capella believes in being clear about the real cost, time, and value of a Capella degree The Gainful Employment disclosures, required by the US Department of Education (ED) (under 34 CFR 688.6 ), provide some information about completion, expenses and occupations based on learners who graduated between July 2014 and June 2015. Most of our students are part-time so they might not take a full course load or attend all 4 quarters each year. We took that into account in calculating these data. For example, we define program length for certificates and master's and doctoral degrees as the number of calendar quarters it takes a typical student to complete a program. The ED has defined time to complete for a Bachelor's degree as 4 years. Program cost is based on the specific pricing structure for each program which is either a cost per credit or a cost per active quarter.

Other related information may be found on the Learning Outcomes, Career Outcomes, and Student Experience tabs on this page.

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Learn more about these values and how they are calculated»

See Gainful Employment data for this program's specializations

Earn Your Doctoral Degree

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Alumni Success Story Quote

Photo of Jeffrey Fenne, MS Jeffrey Fenne, MS

"The greatest reward to me is the ability to look at the big picture and influence the direction of the organization."

Read Jeffrey's story »