NATCHITOCHES – If you are a baccalaureate prepared nurse interested in earning a clinical doctorate in nursing, Northwestern State University’s College of Nursing will host a Q and A for prospective doctoral students.  The virtual meeting will be from 4-6 p.m. CST Wednesday, May 22 via WebEx.

Graduates of NSU’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program provide nursing care at the highest education-practice level, are effective leaders and change agents and are dedicated to improving nursing as a science and a profession.  Graduates are prepared to become organizational leaders who impact healthcare through advanced clinical skills, translating evidence into practice and establishing policies to improve outcomes.

Northwestern State’s DNP program has two tracks, Organizational System Leadership (OSL) and Nurse Anesthesia (NA).  Both programs are rigorous and highly selective. In completing the doctoral degree, students will develop strong leadership and communication skills and, as a requirement for completion, develop and implement a project that improves healthcare.

“Increasingly, higher administrative positions in healthcare require doctoral degrees,” said Dr. Katrina O’Con, Nurse Anesthesia Program assistant coordinator. “We want to create more awareness of the programs and their requirements among younger nurses who may set a Doctor of Nursing Practice as a professional goal.”

NSU’s OSL track has been in place since 2014 and many graduates are now nationally recognized nursing faculty and/or scholars in leadership positions in healthcare agencies.  The first cohort of the NA program graduated in December 2023. For nurses who wish to advance their careers as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA), the benefits are substantial with the number of jobs expected to grow over the next five years.

Dr. Dana Clawson, interim director of Doctoral Studies in Nursing, said the DNP programs are ideal for registered nurses with a desire “to practice at the highest educational-practice level, become change agents in micro-, macro- and meso-systems and become nurse leaders who work collaboratively with interprofessional colleagues to affect needed healthcare change.”

During the Q and A webinar, administrators, faculty and current students from the DNP program will present information about the OSL and NA tracks, answer questions and invite prospective students to virtual breakout rooms for further discussion.

The DNP Organizational Systems Leadership is a clinical doctorate track that requires a Master’s Degree in Nursing.  Many OSL students are employed fulltime as advanced practice nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives or post-master’s nursing faculty seeking a doctoral degree. The program is delivered in six semesters in an online asynchronous format. The OSL track offers an online tuition rate, which is lower than traditional per-credit rates.

The DNP in Nurse Anesthesia track requires a baccalaureate nursing degree. Students in the NA program seek to be clinical anesthesia providers with the leadership abilities to advance in their careers. The program is 36 months with the first two semesters delivered online in asynchronous format. Beginning with the third semester, the program requires continuous didactic and clinical instruction and is a full-time commitment.  Northwestern State offers the only Nurse Anesthesia program in the University of Louisiana System. NSU’s program has a flat-rate tuition and has the lowest attendance cost of any program in Louisiana.

To register for the webinar, email DNPapp@nsula.edu.

More information on Northwestern State’s DNP program is available at https://www.nsula.edu/nursing/nursing-programs/.