The University of Southern Alabama recognizes that the field of nursing offers many highly rewarding career opportunities. That is why the nursing programs at this university offers fully online course options to earn your Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree. Whether you have your BSN or MSN degree, you can earn your DNP advanced degree within a few years and become a leader or nursing practice in your area.
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The University of Southern Alabama recognizes that most of the applicants to its MSN and DNP programs are already nurses. This university was one of the first to offer most graduate nursing work online. But studying online to earn your Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) does not mean you are working on your own. While you are working from the comfort of your own home, your faculty is teaching your courses from the campus, refining your courses, and conferring with colleagues to make your online DNP experience as productive and rewarding as possible.
The DNP degree will prepare each student to provide the highest level of nursing care for patients, management of care for populations and individuals, administration, and the implementation and development of modern healthcare policy.
There are three basic pathways to earn you DNP at the University of Southern Alabama: The BSN to DNP pathway and the MSN to DNP pathway. Below are more details about each option.
BSN to DNP Option
This option is for the practicing nurse who has their BSN and an RN designation and several years of work experience. You are required to apply to the MSN program and earn your degree online in two or three years. After you have completed your MSN degree, you then can apply for the DNP program.
As with the MSN to DNP option, you can choose from a variety of specialties (listed below). The BSN to DNIP pathway has 69 to 87 credit hours. It can be completed in nine semesters of full-time study or 12 semesters of part-time study.
All coursework is offered online, and students may need to come to campus when they start their clinical work for intense classroom and simulation evaluation courses. All NP specialties currently require students to visit the campus for this experience. The faculty will help each student to find the appropriate practice or clinical site.
The BSN to DNP option does not require you to complete a dissertation, but you will be required to finish a major synthesis project in a quality improvement area that has a major effect on healthcare outcomes. The project is to be completed as part of your DNP residency courses.
MSN to DNP Option
Once you have or you already have your MSN and have been admitted to the DNP program, you can choose from the following specialties:
- Family Nurse Practitioner
- Family Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
- Neonatal Nurse Practitioner
- Clinical Nurse Leader
- Executive Nursing Administration
- Nursing Informatics
- Adult-Gerontological Acute Nurse Practitioner
- Adult-Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist
The curriculum for the MSN to DNP pathway is 36 credit hours and can be finished in five or six semesters full time. The program has to be completed within five years of matriculation. The coursework for this program is entirely online. As with the BSN to DNP program, each student is required to complete a major synthesis project that nets a quality improvement change that has a major effect on healthcare outcomes. You can complete your synthesis project in your home area.
After you earn your DNP, you also have the option to return to the University of Southern Alabama and earn a specialty certificate in one of the above concentrations.
- Campus: Mobile, Alabama; online
- Type: Public
- Accreditation: Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
- Tuition: Inquire
- Minimum time commitment: Five years
- Online availability: Yes
- Degree requirements: Students must have their BSN to be eligible for the BSN to DNP bridge program, or a BSN and MSN to be eligible for the regular DNP program. Active RN license required for both programs.
- Programs: Doctor of Nursing Practice – BSN to DNP or MSN to DNP
- School Site: The University of Southern Alabama Online – Doctor of Nursing Practice