Doctor of Nursing Practice Program (DrNP): About the Program

We are extremely pleased to announce that the Pennsylvania Department of Education has today (4/25/05) approved Drexel University's new Doctor of Nursing Practice (DrNP) degree, the first Clinical Research Doctor of Nursing Practice degree in the nation. This approval is the culmination of 5 years of careful study and planning by the Drexel nursing faculty of national trends in doctoral nursing education. Most importantly, the doctoral program is now a reality because of the faculty's intense desire to infuse practice-focused doctoral education with innovation and practical clinical research and scholarship. Foremost in the faculty's deliberations was the desire to create a rigorous practice-doctorate that would provide the practitioner with the advanced skills and knowledge needed to elevate the level of advanced nursing practice necessary for the future. Equally important was the faculty's desire to create a practice-doctorate that would address the critical nursing faculty shortage that our nation now faces.

When the Drexel University School of Public Health made the decision in 2003 to offer the DrPH (Doctor of Public Health) rather than the PhD, Drexel's nursing faculty began to ask whether an equivalent research-based practice doctorate might be appropriate in nursing. Since the DrPH degree has a long established history in the United States and is an academic, research doctorate more focused on public health practice than the PhD in Public Health, the nursing faculty saw an opportunity to develop an equivalent nursing doctorate.

Drexel's Doctoral Nursing Program Development Committee, led by Dr. H. Michael Dreher, the new director of the DrNP Program, has developed an innovative hybrid doctorate that combines the best qualities of both the traditional professional practice doctorate and the academic research doctorate. Like the DrPH, the Drexel DrNP will be a practice-focused, academic doctorate requiring the completion of a clinical dissertation focusing on clinical nursing practice. The clinical dissertation is structured to be completed in one year, will help generate an evidence base for nursing practice, and was modeled after the clinical dissertations that are prevalent in most PsyD (Psychology Doctorate) programs.

Drexel University, College of Nursing and Health Professions is proud to offer the clinical research DrNP degree model - with four designated tracks (Practitioner, Educator, Clinical Scientist, and Clinical Executive) as a practice-doctorate degree that will provide graduates with credentials valued by academia and limitless practice oriented career options. We hope you will consider applying to our DrNP program and I personally invite you to become part of our innovation in doctoral nursing education. The Drexel DrNP has the potential to change the face of advanced practice doctoral nursing education. We invite you to trail blaze with us!

Gloria F. Donnelly Ph.D., RN, FAAN
Dean, Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions