Applicable only to students admitted during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Nursing

School of Nursing

Graduate Degrees

The School of Nursing offers the Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) degree, the Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) degree, the Master of Science (M.S.) degree, and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Nursing.

Admissions Requirements

Doctoral Degree

Advising

Upon admission and in the first year of the program, students are assigned to the program director who has the responsibility to aid students in developing an academic plan. Students are required to meet with the program director at least once per quarter. During the second year, the student will identify an advisor who will serve as their committee chair of their doctoral committee. Together, student, program director, and advisor, will identify academic and personal needs and match them with available school and University resources in order to maximize the student’s ability to reach educational and professional goals. The DNP Scholarly Project chair will meet with the student on a quarterly basis to orally review and document the student’s progress.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

The UCLA School of Nursing (SON) Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree program builds on master’s level advanced practice preparation. Students in the DNP Program will integrate competencies for advanced practice nursing roles in clinical practice, leadership, health policy, and education as well as further develop their capacity for clinical scholarship. Areas of clinical practice and organizational focus will vary depending on the career trajectory of the student. Students will be mentored in clinical/organizational roles through residencies with nursing clinical and/or senior medical leaders as well as individuals in senior healthcare management positions. These residencies may take place at or near the student’s work setting or place of residence. The DNP Program faculty will provide mentorship and facilitate the residency processes throughout the student’s program. All graduates will receive the DNP degree.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

61 units (16 separate courses) are required for the DNP program. These units/courses include both didactic and clinical residency hours. Required course work for the DNP degree program satisfies the requirements for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and is shown below.

Core courses for the DNP program include the following:

• Two Nursing theory courses:
  • Scientific Underpinnings for DNP Practice (Nursing 401, 3 units)
  • Clinical Scholarship for Evidence-Based Practice (Nursing 402, 3 units)
• Four Nursing research and clinical practicum courses:
  • DNP Scholarly Project series (Nursing 470A-D, 26 total units)
• Two Statistics courses:
  • Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice (Nursing 404, 3 units)
  • Informatics for DNP Practice (Nursing 411, 2 units)
• Two Professional Development courses:
  • Dissemination & Translation of Clinical Scholarship (Nursing 410, 2 units)
  • Education Practicum for DNP Practice (Nursing 496A, B, C, 3 total units). In Nursing 496C, students will shadow and be mentored by an academic faculty member to gain experience in instruction in the sphere of academia.
• Four Nursing Policy and Leadership courses:
  • Healthcare Policy for Advocacy in Health Care (Nursing 409, 3 units)
  • Organizational Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement (Nursing 403, 3 units)
  • Communication and Ethics (Nursing 405, 2 units)
  • Financial Management and Cost Analysis of Health Care (Nursing 407, 3 units)
• Two Healthcare Safety courses:
  • Clinical Prevention and Population Health (Nursing 406, 3 units)
  • Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes (Nursing 408, 3 units)
• Written Qualifying Examination (Nursing 597, 2 units)

Field Experience

Students are required to complete 60 hours as part of their Education Practicum for the DNP in Nursing 496A and 496B.

Field Experience: In Nursing 496A, students will identify a patient need in a specific population and develop an educational presentation aimed towards patients. In Nursing 496B, students will identify a staff need in a specific population and develop an educational presentation aimed towards institutional staff.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass university written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to university requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

All committee nominations and reconstitutions adhere to the Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution.

Written Qualifying Examination. The written qualifying examination must be submitted in the fall of the second year after completion of the DNP core courses. The Written Qualifying Examination tests the ability to use knowledge in the areas of basic concepts of nursing science, nursing theory development, statistics, bioethics and the student’s selected area of study. The purpose of this exam is to assess the student’s ability to synthesize knowledge as demonstrated by the selection and integration of knowledge that is applicable to their DNP Scholarly Project. The written qualifying examination can be used to evaluate strengths and weaknesses in the mastery of content presented in the first year courses. In addition, this will aid in the identification of existing learning needs and facilitate appropriate academic counseling regarding program planning. The exam is in the form the student’s DNP Scholarly Project Proposal. The written examination will be read by and the student’s DNP Scholarly Project Committee graded as “pass” or “no pass”. Only one reexamination is permitted and it must be completed during the fall of the same year as the original examination.

Oral Qualifying Examination. The University Oral Qualifying Examination, taken after completing the course requirements and successfully passing the written qualifying examination, evaluates the student’s DNP Scholarly Project proposal.

The initial step is selection of a doctoral committee from the DNP faculty. Students are responsible for obtaining the consent of four faculty members to serve on the committee. Qualifications of members must be consistent with the student’s area of research and special interests and with the requirements for doctoral committees as stated in the Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA. Additional members, including those from an institution or clinical agency representing the student’s clinical and research interests who meet the requirements for committee membership as stated in the Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committees, will be considered for additional membership on the DNP Scholarly Committee. The program director must give approval of members consenting to serve on the doctoral committee before the committee is submitted for the approval of the Graduate Division. Students who fail the oral qualifying examination are given one further opportunity to pass. This reexamination must be completed before the start of winter quarter in the second year.

Successful completion of the DNP Scholarly Project course series will be necessary in order for the student to plan, implement and evaluate the DNP Scholarly Project. Each member of the committee reports the examination as “passed” or “not passed;” a student may not be advanced to candidacy if more than one member votes “not passed” regardless of the size of the committee as stated in the Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Project

A DNP Scholarly Project is required for this professional degree program. Students will complete a DNP Residency, DNP Scholarly Proposal, and implementation of this project will take place at the appropriate institution. The DNP Scholarly Project will require students to demonstrate a synthesis of evidence-based practice in a practice area specific to the student’s specialty.

The DNP Scholarly Project requires a synthesis of leadership, policy, quality, management, and clinical learning experience. Each student will collaborate with an agency (ideally their current clinical setting) to address a real-world problem or health issue. The DNP Scholarly Project reflects doctoral preparation in the translation of research and science to improve patient or population outcomes. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the DNP Scholarly Project takes place in the final quarter of study. A final oral defense is not required unless deemed by the committee (see below).

Final Oral Examination (DNP Scholarly Project Presentation)

A final oral defense of the project is not required of all students in the DNP program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the committee. If deemed to be carried out, the final oral defense will follow the guidelines as stated in the Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA. In lieu of final oral examination, students will produce deliverables such as abstract presentations, poster presentations, and/or a publishable manuscript.

Time-to-degree

The normative time from matriculation to degree is seven quarters (21 months) for the DNP degree. From admission to advancement to candidacy (completion of DNP Scholarly Project Proposal), the normative time is five quarters. The maximum time for degree completion is 11 quarters, or three (3) years.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
D.N.P.	5	7	11

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be specifically recommended for academic disqualification for failure of a second attempt of the written or oral qualifying examinations.