Nursing Knowledge in the Doctor of Nursing Practice Curriculum.

The goal of Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) education is to prepare advanced practice nurse leaders for the practice setting. Accordingly, it is imperative that DNP education is grounded in nursing theoretical knowledge. The purpose of this project was to examine the presence of nursing theoretical knowledge within DNP programs across the United States. A retrospective approach was used to review publicly available information on the webpages of a sample of DNP programs accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) to determine if nursing theoretical knowledge guided DNP programs. Demographic information was also collected. A sample of 100 CCNE accredited programs revealed a lack of nursing theoretical knowledge visible within DNP programs. It is unclear how DNPs are being prepared to be practice leaders guided by nursing theoretical knowledge. Nursing leaders must develop policies to assure that nursing knowledge is core in DNP programs.