View our EdD Early Childhood specialization completion requirements
Minimum degree requirements:
60 quarter credits
- Core courses (50 cr.)
- Capstone (10 cr.)
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How Does Walden’s Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree Program Enhance the Learning Experience?
Walden University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program provides relevant and comprehensive coursework that takes your advanced nursing knowledge and expertise to the highest educational level. Accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), our doctoral program meets national standards of quality and relevance for your profession.
With an online DNP degree from Walden, you can be ready, qualified, and in position to:
- Advance in your specialty.
- Mentor the next generation of nurses.
- Assume greater practice and leadership roles in healthcare.
- Evaluate and apply research that contributes to better patient outcomes.
- Promote a more effective and efficient healthcare system.
- Become a healthcare policymaker and advocate in a broad spectrum of public and private healthcare settings at the national, regional, state, county, and local levels.
Designed to Optimize Your DNP Learning Experience
One of the online DNP programs responding to the critical demand for nursing professionals trained at the doctoral level, Walden’s doctorate in nursing features strong, integrated elements carefully designed to enhance your learning experience:
Comprehensive Coursework
Walden’s multi-faceted Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program requires 47–53 total quarter credits (depending upon total master’s-level practicum hours earned prior to program admission). Each course lasts 11 weeks, followed by a 2-week break. Challenging, culturally relevant coursework covers a range of topics relevant to evolving changes and growing complexities of our healthcare system, including:
- Healthcare policy and advocacy
- Quality improvement
- Evidence-based practice
- Information systems and technology
- Advanced nursing practice and organizational and systems leadership
Learn more about Walden’s DNP curriculum.
Distinguished Faculty of Scholar-Practitioners
Walden University’s School of Nursing features an eminent faculty of more than 100 scholars and professionals, 100% of whom hold doctoral degrees. Academically and experientially qualified to teach at graduate and undergraduate levels, they blend academic theory with firsthand knowledge to enrich your learning experience and broaden your perspective on the latest issues and best practices in the field of nursing.
DNP Practicum: Site-Based Field Experience
Walden’s DNP degree practicum consists of a series of four online courses taken sequentially. During the four terms, you will accumulate a minimum of 576 practicum hours working in the field in a clinically oriented experience at sites such as:
- Hospitals
- Outpatient facilities
- Health departments
- Community centers
- Medical simulation centers
- Healthcare policy organizations
- Organizational and healthcare systems
- Information systems and technology departments
For a portion of the supervised practicum hours that is not hands-on, you may be involved with the implementation of your DNP project; however, the primary focus of these hours should be on achieving the goals and individual learning outcomes set for the course and practicum experience.
Evidence-Based Doctoral Project
The online doctorate in nursing program gives you the opportunity to gain the competencies to design, develop, implement, and evaluate a focused topic of interest to you. Preparing for your DNP project, you will select a faculty mentor and develop portfolio evidence through an integrative critical review of literature which will lead you to identify a clinical/practice question.
International Networking
As a Doctor of Nursing Practice student, you have the opportunity to join Phi Nu, Walden’s chartered chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing®, and connect with nurses around the world, sharing the latest nursing research and best practices in clinical, scientific, and leadership areas.
Start Advancing Your Career Today!
Nurse practitioners holding a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree earned, on average, nearly $114,000 in 2018–one of the highest average annual salary among nurse practitioners.1
With your online Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, your advanced qualifications can open doors at the highest levels of your profession, giving you the credentials to fill positions of change-making leadership in the healthcare profession.
Walden University, an accredited institution, supports working professionals in achieving their academic goals and making a greater impact in their professions and communities. Students from all 50 states and from around the world pursue certificate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees online at Walden.
Explore Walden University's online bachelor and graduate degree programs for nurses and change your future faster! Earn your doctoral degree in nursing on your own schedule.
Walden University’s DNP, MSN, and BSN programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 530, Washington, D.C. 20036, 1-202-887-6791. CCNE is a national accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and ensures the quality and integrity of baccalaureate and graduate education programs in preparing effective nurses. For students, accreditation signifies program innovation and continuous self-assessment.