Doctorate of Nursing Role Objectives:

DNP Program Outcomes: 

• Assess, analyze, evaluate, and manage complex health environments serving diverse populations to improve patient and population health outcomes;   
• Apply clinical scholarship and available evidence to make clinical and system decisions incorporating professional values and ethical principles;   
• Support and improve patient care and health care systems through the use of clinical practice models, health policy, informatics, and organizational leadership skills;   
• Advocate for clinical prevention, population health initiatives, and evidence-based health policy through interprofessional and stakeholder collaboration.  

DNP Student Learning Outcomes: 

• Function as a scholar with critical thinking skills supported by theories from the behavioral, physical, and nursing sciences.  
• Demonstrate organizational and systems leadership in the application of client care interventions incorporating informatics and health care technology to improve population health care outcomes.  
• Collaborate as a member of an interprofessional health care team to advocate for safe and effective client care being cognizant of cultural, societal, economic, political, ethical, and legal issues.  
• Promote quality improvement in the provision of culturally competent care to diverse populations through integration of health policy, planned programs, education and advocacy.  
• Synthesize research-based evidence to create implement, evaluate, translate, and disseminate into practice.  

Conceptual Framework: 

The conceptual framework of the UTRGV School of Nursing curriculum contributes to the development of the course content to advance the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of all its graduates. Grounded on the SON philosophy and mission, the curriculum is centered in the belief that the role of the nurse is to assist the person/family/community in developing their full potential to enhance wellness, prevent illness, promote self-care for optimal health, or cope with dying and death. In accordance with professional nursing standards and evidence-based guidelines for practice, the SON degree programs emphasize the preparation of students to meet the dynamic needs of the international, multicultural, and multilingual society of the Rio Grande Valley. 

There are eight major concepts related to the central belief integrated throughout the nursing curriculum at UTRGV. These concepts are: 

• The individual as a holistic being (People) 
• Society as multicultural and diversity (People, Campus Life) 
• Wellness and illness as a continuum (Health Education & Patient Care) 
• Nursing as a critical thinking, problem-solving process (Academic Excellence) 
• Research and evidence-based practice (Research & Scholarship) 
• Inter-Professional Practice (Health Education & Patient Care; Community Engagement & Integration) 
• Education as a facilitator of change (Student Access & Success) 
• Leadership (People; Community Engagement & Integration)