From treating the patient to also treating the system. That's the difference Mississippi's new Doctor of Nursing Practice program is aiming to make, with some 20 students wrapping up their second semester this spring.

 

Already the group is defining practical research projects that illustrate what will take their work beyond the master's-degree level. In the months to come, members of the class will seek to define new approaches for teaching elementary-school children about healthy eating, for getting more kids into the government programs for which they're eligible, and for evaluating whether a new medical records system is actually proving effective.

 

"The goal is not only to be diagnosing and treating individual patients, but also diagnosing and treating populations of patients and the healthcare system itself," said Barbara Boss, PhD, RN, CANP, CFNP.

 

A professor of nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Boss is director of the DNP program, which launched last fall as a consortium effort between the schools of nursing at UMMC and the University of Southern Mississippi.

 

A few assessments can already be made, Boss said.

 

The team which developed the program has been pleased so far that several key decisions are proving successful. That includes the decision to open the program to not only advanced-practice nurses like nurse practitioners, midwives and nurse anesthetists, but also nurse administrators and those who work in staff development. All of them already hold master's-level degrees, but the diversity of experiences among the group has enriched the dynamic.

 

The program has also found a good balance in its hybrid schedule, blending online coursework with intensive in-person weekend classes held one Friday and Saturday a month.

 

That schedule has allowed most of the 20 students — 10 in Jackson, 10 in Hattiesburg — to fit part-time study into their full-time work schedules, with their employers' support. What the hospitals, clinics and agencies that employ those nurses get back is the benefit of doctorate-level training in these already able professionals.

 

The DNP curriculum focuses on three main areas: Improving healthcare and access to care among Mississippi's minority and vulnerable populations; developing leaders who can build programs of care; and building evidence-based practices that will bring about quality improvement.

 

Around the country, the concept of a clinical doctorate degree for nurses is still very new — but it's warranted within the reality of today's healthcare system, Boss said.

 

"The knowledge level has expanded and healthcare has gotten so complex and complicated," she said. "We need more time for students to learn about these complex systems, and we need leaders who can work in a positive way within that complex healthcare arena."

 

Launching the program through a consortium model has allowed the state to begin meeting those needs in a way that's both financially conservative and politically strategic. UMMC and Southern Miss collaborated in the program's development along with Alcorn State and Delta State Universities and Mississippi University for Women.

 

"It really has been a joint effort, and we're being very good custodians of Mississippi's resources in doing it this way," Boss said.

 

While only UMMC and Southern Miss host the program today, the idea is to work more closely with Alcorn, Delta State and MUW as the program expands to include students who want to add DNP study to their master's-level degree program or even enter it straight from the baccalaureate level.

 

Currently, there are no special scholarships for DNP students, who are essentially funding their own study through loans and other means for two to three years. Nor will finishing the degree necessarily boost their income immediately, Boss said, although it will further their careers and improve their positions in the long run.

 

Stepping more into a role of leadership, program-building and evaluation is a transition that begins right away for new DNP students. Even during their admission interview, they begin talking about ideas for the capstone project that will conclude their doctoral efforts.

 

Among UMMC's inaugural class is a family nurse practitioner who works at a school-based clinic and plans to examine new approaches for how to truly reach kids with the message of getting exercise and eating good-for-you food. A classmate, a nurse anesthetist, wants to design an evaluation program for the new medical-records system now in place at UMC, to see whether it's actually made a difference in terms of cost, quality or safety.

 

"These are very clinically based projects — not bench research in a lab," Boss said. "They're addressing real, pragmatic, everyday problems that occur within the delivery of healthcare to people and need some evaluation or some rethinking."

 

Since the idea of the capstone project is informed by a nurse's own experience and cultivated from the program's onset, the idea is for the nurse-student to focus in that direction in all the courses along the way.

 

For the class which will enter the DNP program in fall 2010, applications were due May 1. The process includes submitting GPA records, GRE scores and references, along with information about the applicant's professional interests and career goals.

 

Those planning to apply for fall 2011 have time to begin checking out the program and the application process, all of which are detailed online at son.umc.edu/academics/doctoral/DNP, or at Southern Miss, www.nursing.usm.edu/DNP_Program.html.