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BSN to DNP Neonatal Nurse Practitioner

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is a practice doctorate that prepares clinical scholars recognized for outstanding leadership and innovative evidence-based patient/population centered outcomes. The program focuses on interprofessional collaboration and developing competencies in practice, leadership, and quality improvement and safety that lead to enhanced outcomes important to patients, families, providers, and organizations.

The BSN to DNP curriculum is in line with the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties' (NONPF) and American Association of Colleges of Nurses (AACN) commitment to move all entry-level nurse practitioner education to the DNP degree by 2025. The program is an integration of the objectives and learning opportunities required for attainment of doctoral level core and population-focused competencies.

The Neonatal Nurse Practitioner pathway is designed to prepare skilled Nurse Practitioners to provide care for low and high-risk neonates and their families in a variety of settings. Graduates of this program are registered nurses with advanced education who are able to assess, make diagnoses, manage health care, prescribe medicines and evaluate care for patients.

The NP pathway offers 4-year part-time and 3-year full-time options to fit the schedules of working nurses. Many classes are offered online but there are on-campus learning requirements in some classes. On-campus learning consists of standardized patient visits, labs with clinical skills and physical assessments, and objective structured clinical exams. For additional information about this program, please contact nursing@ouhsc.edu.

Post-Graduate Certificate tracks are available. For additional information, please review our Post-Gradaute Certificate page.

The Neonatal Nurse Practitioner curriculum prepares graduates to apply for and sit for the National Certification Corporation Neonatal Nurse Practitioner certification exam.

Residency requirements: Clinical Rotations will be performed in the state of Oklahoma. Due to federal regulations from the Department of Education, the College of Nursing currently accepts applications for its online doctoral degree programs from residents of the states participating in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA). A list of participating states can be found at: http://nc-sara.org/sara-states-institutions. Applicants are encouraged to check with their local State Boards of Nursing regarding any specific professional licensure requirements prior to applying or enrolling. 

Prerequisite Courses

Research Methodology 

General Statistics 

Curriculum

The BSN-DNP program is 73 semester credit hours and 1088 clinical/practicum hours.

The Post-Graduate certificate program has 33 semester credit hours and 768 clinical/practicum hours. 

Programs can be completed in 3-4 years for the BSN-DNP option and 2 years for the Post-Graduate Certificate option.

Admission Requirements

  • Completion of a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Nursing from a regionally accredited institution.
  • Current license to practice as a Registered Nurse in Oklahoma or hold a compact license
    • Executive Leadership and Post-Graduate DNP Completion applicants must be licensed where clinical rotations will be completed
  • Prerequisite courses to be completed with a grade of “C” or better
    • Undergraduate Nursing Research (ex. EBP)
    • Statistics – either undergraduate or graduate
  • Last 60 hours grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
  • Submission of three letters of reference
  • Resume
  • Personal Statement
  • The equivalent of two years of full-time clinical practice experience within the last five years as a registered nurse (RN) in the care of critically ill neonates or infants in critical care inpatient settings is required before you begin clinical courses. You may apply for the program and enroll in preclinical courses while obtaining the necessary practice experience.
  • At time of application, you must have current Neonatal Resuscitation Provider and Basic Life Support certificates and maintain them throughout the program of study.
If after reviewing the qualifications for this program you are unsure of whether you meet them, please contact Nursing@ouhsc.edu. We are here to help and support you as you pursue a career in the health sciences.