Unleashing the Power of Innovation and Partnership in Doctoral Education: Executive Nursing Leadership Meets Nursing Informatics

Learning outcome: Participants will learn about an updated doctor of nursing practice (DNP) nursing informatics (NI) academic program which incorporates leadership components, experiential learning, certification and population health.

Purpose: A DNP NI training program was updated to include leadership, population/public health informatics, global and planetary health, analytics, and certification preparation. The objectives are to share details of the program which are intended to meet workforce needs and learner expectations.

Introduction: A top 10 (ranked by US News and World Report) DNP program in a Midwestern school of nursing completed a major curriculum update to align with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials. This provided an opportunity for the DNP NI program to intentionally partner with DNP nurse executive program (called health innovation and leadership [HIL]) to incorporate leadership components. Evolving informatics workforce needs, specialty specific competencies, and readiness for professional certifications were also considered.

Methods: Collaborations were initiated with the DNP-HIL program to co-teach for interprofessional learning. An existing course was rejuvenated to focus on leadership and organizational culture, along with a practicum for experiential learning. A new course was developed to facilitate your own personal “brand” optimizing social media and preparation for informatics certification. Study abroad (Iceland/Cuba) and leadership at the United Nations are all part of population/global/planetary practicum. Partnerships were created with other informatics trainings in the university. The updated curriculum was reviewed and approved by the DNP council and the education and program curriculum committee (EPCC) within the school of nursing.

Results: Final program comprises of co-creation of three new courses with the DNP-HIL program. Nine existing courses are being revised to update content and three courses will be sunset. The revamped program is 74 credits (35 core DNP credits + 39 informatics specialty credits). The HIL collaboration expands skills in leadership, entrepreneurship, and global and planetary health. Another key aspect is embedding a population health informatics and technology (PHIT) certificate (12 credits) within the DNP-NI program. New content emphasizes consumer health informatics with practicums focused on HIT policies and population/global/planetary health. Content also includes systems analysis, human-computer interactions, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. Partnerships were initiated with school of public health for a co-taught course on public health informatics and the Institute of Health Informatics for a joint course in population/global/planetary health informatics. The updated curriculum aligns with AACN Essentials (n=5 competencies and n=24 sub-competencies) from informatics and healthcare technologies domain.
Discussion: The revised DNP-NI program incorporates leadership, provides interprofessional training through partnerships, facilitates real-world experiences through practicums, and offers opportunities for global experiences and alignment with planetary health. NI courses were front-loaded in program to support preparation for national certification and to facilitate leadership roles upon graduation. This new multi-faceted DNP-NI program incorporates analytics, PHIT, global and planetary health, social media presence, project portfolio, certification readiness, and leadership.

Conclusion: The updated DNP-NI program meets the new 2021 AACN Essentials, incorporates leadership components to meet learner expectations and a competency-based approach to train skill-ready graduates to address current and emerging workforce needs.