Table of Contents
New Doctoral Degree Offers Entry
to a New
Level
of Practice
School of Nursing takes giant step in addressing Texas
health care needs
and shortage of nursing faculty
Nurse Practitioner Julie Lindenberg examines a patient at UT Health
Services. Once she completes her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree
at Columbia
University in New York, she will teach in the new
program at the UT School of Nursing at Houston.
Photo by Janet
Johnson
Julie Lindenberg has been a nurse practitioner for 17 years and is an assistant professor at The University of Texas School of Nursing at Houston. In search of more education, she enrolled in a research-based Ph.D. program that was close to home.
“I was less than thrilled because the predominate component was research, and I wanted to stay at the bedside,” she said.
“Because I work in academia, I needed a doctorate degree, so when I was offered a full scholarship at Columbia University in their D.N.P. program, I decided to enroll. I have three kids, so going out-ofstate was difficult,” she said. “Luckily, I have a brother in Connecticut, and my class schedule made it possible for me to spend half a week at Columbia and the other half in Houston.”
Now completing her residency in Houston, Lindenberg will graduate next year and will teach in the new UT Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) program.
As one of the nation’s leaders in nursing education and preparation, the UT School of Nursing will take another giant step in addressing the state’s health care needs and the shortage of nursing faculty when it launches its new D.N.P. program this fall.
Winning approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in April, the school’s new program emphasizes evidence-based practice and expeditiously translating research into bedside practice.
First in Texas
“The new program, which will be the first offered in Texas and one of only 11 in the country, has received broad support from Houston-area hospitals,” Dean Patricia Starck, D.S.N., said. “These graduates also will make wonderful clinical instructors for nursing schools so we can address the faculty shortage problem, and we anticipate many of these graduates will want to combine teaching and practice in their careers.” The program, which is a practice doctorate, as opposed to a research doctorate, was created during a five-year process by the School of Nursing and a consortium of nurse educators from across the country.
Joanne Hickey, Ph.D.
“We believe the D.N.P. program is one way to address the underserved, the growing number of patients with chronic illnesses and our huge aging population,” said Joanne Hickey, Ph.D., director of the D.N.P. program. “The D.N.P. also will prepare advanced practice nurses to respond to the increasingly complex health care needs of a diverse population.”
Designed to develop advanced practice nurses as clinical experts in patient care management, the program will provide post-master’s students with a 46-credit hour course of study over eight semesters. The curriculum includes courses in ethics, informatics, emerging science, evidencebased practice and patient management.
“D.N.P. graduates will practice at the highest level while exemplifying and providing leadership for quality patient outcomes,” Hickey said.
Hospital Administrators See Strong Role
Dan Wolterman, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System and chairman- elect of the Texas Hospital Association, endorsed the program, saying, “The graduates of this program will aid in meeting a growing need for well-educated nurses who provide care for patients, along with leadership in nursing and in shaping the health care of the future in new and innovative ways.”
The Methodist Hospital currently employs more than 40 nurse practitioners. “Our intent is to further expand this program, and we envision a strong role for the graduates of the Doctorate in Nursing Practice program,” said President and CEO R. G. Girotto.
Strong, collaborative relationships with hospitals and physicians will benefit the program, Hickey said.
Elizabeth Fuselier, the first D.N.P.-prepared
faculty
member in the UT
School of Nursing,
with Dean
Patricia Starck, D.S.N.
Photo by
Erika
Durham
Hargrove
Nurse Education, Patient Outcomes Linked
In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in September 2003, Linda Aiken, Ph.D., wrote: “Our documentation of significantly higher patient outcomes in hospitals with more highly educated nurses at the bedside underscores the importance of greater emphasis on nurses with a baccalaureate or higher education, as well as ensuring the adequacy of the overall supply.”
Hickey added, “The needs of patients are becoming so complex that we need practitioners with the ability to take substantial research and incorporate it into practice and health policy in order to assure care reflective of the latest advances. We believe the D.N.P. program will prepare nurses for this role.”
Area nurses see need
The addition of the D.N.P. program rounds out the picture for the UT School of Nursing, Lindenberg said. “The D.N.P. is very different from other doctoral nursing programs,” she explained. “I’ve had a lot of students with no interest in pursuing a doctoral degree before the D.N.P. came along, because they were clinicians, not researchers.”
Like Lindenberg, Elizabeth Fuselier, D.N.P., had been a nurse practitioner for more than a decade when she began the D.N.P. program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. Now executive clinical director of UT Health Services and assistant professor at the nursing school, she pursued the D.N.P. because she wanted post-master’s training with a clinical focus.
“The D.N.P. is designed to develop master’s trained nurse practitioners as clinical experts,” she said. “With this training, I am now able to provide a higher quality of care for my patients and have the tools for nursing leadership and to enter academics, as well.”
One of the rationales for the D.N.P. was an effort to train independent practitioners at the doctoral level. “Until the D.N.P. was developed, nursing was one of the very few health care disciplines that prepared clinical professionals at the master’s level. This new program trains nurses in providing the highest quality of care available,” Fuselier said.
“From a personal standpoint,” she said, “this clinical doctorate has allowed me more intercollaborative relationships with physicians. These relationships, in turn, make it possible for me to facilitate patients with more complex cases into the health care system and have promoted me as a recognized leader within the nursing community.”
Hickey agreed with Fuselier. “A good nurse can definitely make a difference in patient care, policy and the medical community. A good nurse always wants to learn more to do the best job possible for patients,” she said.
“There are nurses out there who have been waiting for this new program,” Hickey said. “They have made the conscious decisions to stay at the bedside rather than go into research. We believe the new D.N.P. program will improve patient care because these are already fabulous nurses, and the added education will take them to a new level.”
By Alice Adams