Doctoral Degrees in Nursing
American Sentinel University offers an online Doctor of Nursing Practice program for nurse leaders and educators seeking a practice-focused degree that will help them gain the credibility, management skills, credentials and industry knowledge they need in today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment. Our DNP degree program features the flexibility of online learning, experienced faculty with significant nursing leadership and educational experience, and a nationwide representation of students to learn and grow with.
94%
Stated They Could Apply What They Learned To Their Job
92%
Received
Personal Support
88%
Said American Sentinel Was
The Right Choice
80%
DNP Graduation in 2018
Sources: Biannual Student Survey 2019, Graduation Rates Report 2018
Choose from four Online DNP Program Specializations:
DNP, Professional Leadership
A custom specialization that enables advanced practice nurses to select the courses that fit their goals (instead of a pre-determined plan). Students choose seven courses from any specialty including education, leadership and informatics.
DNP, Educational Leadership
Leadership-focused specialization that prepares faculty, program directors and deans to lead nursing education programs. The online DNP Educational Leadership, one of only a few, includes curriculum development, technology and simulation, assessment and more.
DNP, Executive Leadership
Leadership-focused specialization that equips master’s-educated nurses with the marketable, critical thinking skills they need to immediately step into executive roles in healthcare systems. It is ideal for executives and managers who currently hold or intend to pursue executive leadership positions in healthcare organizations during their careers.
DNP, Informatics Leadership
One of a select few online programs that enable nurses with informatics experience to combine their passion for nursing with their skills in technology and data. Nurse informaticists often serve as the clinical health IT advisor to the executive leadership team, educating them on application use and change implementation for optimized patient care. Applicants must have a minimum of one year of full-time work experience in an informatics or technology-based nursing leadership role within the last five years.
DNP, executive leadership or informatics leadership specializations
Nurses in these specializations are not required to have/earn an MSN, so we offer three enrollment options:
- Nurses that have a master’s in another discipline (e.g. MBA, MHA, MPH, or MEd) and want to earn an MSN and DNP
- Nurses that have a master’s in another discipline but do not want to earn an MSN, just a DNP (see the Bridge Program below)
DNP Graduate Discusses How To Choose The Right School For You
Tammy Martineau, an American Sentinel University alumnus discusses her experience in the DNP, Educational Leadership program. She is a nursing educator who discusses the major areas to consider when choosing a school for your terminal nursing degree.
DNP Practice Experiences
To be at the forefront of nursing education, we not only strive to meet accreditors’ guidelines, but we also work to meet the needs of our nursing students. Practice Experiences are an important part of our DNP program. These experiences are built into the courses and do not add additional work. Instead, they offer more interactive learning assignments.
TYPES OF PRACTICE EXPERIENCES (PEs)
- PRACTICE LEARNING EXPERIENCES (PLE): Course assignments that allow you to use what you learned in the online classroom out in the real world
- PRECEPTED PRACTICE EXPERIENCES (PPE): Course assignments that take place in the workplace or other healthcare settings.
- CAPSTONE HOURS (CH): Practice experience hours in the DNP program that are earned during scholarly work on your capstone project
- Students are required to secure availability and access/permission to an acceptable location/site to fulfill the practice experience and DNP project requirements of the program.
- Program applicants must provide evidence of clinical hours from an MSN or other nursing-specific degree and have the potential to have those hours (maximum 400 hours) applied to the required 1000 prior to the Project course sequence.
Questions about practice experiences? Contact your Admissions Advisor at admissions@americansentinel.edu or by phone at 866.922.5690 for more details.
What our students say about their experience:
“The DNP program has exceeded every expectation I had,” she says. “Everything has been so relevant to what I do in my job, but at the same time, I’ve gained a lot of new knowledge that’s pushed me outside of my comfort zone. All this learning gives me energy.”
Ashley Carter
DNP, Educational Leadership graduate, 2019
"Every class I took in my DNP program had to do with something I was doing at work. The program curriculum is relevant and applicable to the work I do in my own classroom."
Karen Taylor
DNP, Educational Leadership graduate, 2019
"I loved the program's flexibility to choose courses that I'm interested in and combine my education experience with my other experience. American Sentinel seemed like a high-quality institution with a great system in place. The affordability, the enrollment process, the staff - everything impressed me."
Dagmar Strenk
DNP Professional Leadership student, 2019
Bridge Courses and Practicum Workroom
Three Bridge Courses and a total of 400 hours of Practice Experiences must be completed prior to the student enrolling in the DNP program.
Bridge Courses (include 90 hours of Practice Experiences)
Practicum Workrooms
Practicum Workrooms will be offered every eight weeks. Students need to enroll in a Practicum Workroom when they enroll in their first bridge course. Students are encouraged to enroll in a Practicum Workroom each eight weeks until they complete all the designated competencies in the Practicum Workroom.
In the 8-week Practicum Workrooms, students have a list of four to five competencies that must be met while completing 310 practice hours. The Practicum Workrooms are self-paced. Students need to complete the first competency regarding role transition before starting the remainder of the competencies. Once the first competency has been met, students may use practice hours to work on one or more of the remaining competencies.
To complete the practice hours, students will engage in activities to complete the designated competencies. Students determine the number of practice hours that they are able to complete to meet one or more designated competencies during an 8-week Practicum Workroom. Enrollment in the Practicum Workroom to complete a total of 400 practice experience hours is required for entry into the Doctor of Nursing Practice program.
Students must request approval of practice experience activities and location for their practice experiences with the Practicum Coordinators before starting to complete the practice hours. The Practicum Coordinators approve activities for practice experience hours requested by students and monitor completion of the practice experience hours and achievement of competencies.
Students demonstrate achievement of competencies through reflective journaling during completion of the practice experience hours. The Practicum Coordinators review the students’ journaling and the documentation of the practice hours. Grading for the Practicum Workroom competencies are pass/fail.
