Nursing (DNP)

Doctoral Degree in Nursing Practice Program

The Doctoral Degree in Nursing Practice program (DNP program) prepares advanced practice nurses in Public and Community Health Nursing. The DNP program focuses on developing nurse leaders in practice who are innovative and use nursing practices that are based on evidence to reflect the application of credible research findings.

The primary goal of the DNP program at the Mary Black College of Nursing (MBCON) is to provide advanced knowledge and immersed leadership practice to nurses dedicated to providing high-quality care to improve health outcomes for patients, families, and populations, transform healthcare, and reduce healthcare costs. The DNP program provides students with advanced knowledge and skills in theoretical constructs for advanced nursing practice, epidemiological and environmental health, organizational leadership and systems thinking, health care policy, finance, and economics, global and cultural diversity in population-focused health, program evaluation, and advanced leadership concepts in public and community health nursing.

Graduates from the DNP program at the MBCON will influence population-level changes through community health assessments and intervention and by evaluating the outcomes of public health programs. The DNP program is particularly vital for improving healthy living in South Carolina and surrounding states to address specific health challenges such as teen pregnancy, infant mortality, drug overdose, COVID-19, preterm births, and heart disease to name a few. Graduates from our program help protect and promote health and wellness in the community by addressing key health indicators and many others. Doctoral-prepared public and community health nurses serve in roles that plan, pilot, and implement evidenced-based population health programs at local, state or federal levels.

At the completion of the program, the DNP graduate will be able to:

1. Design clinical prevention and population health interventions through the application, translation, and implementation of evidenced based practice into clinical decision-making in the planning and delivery of care across the health care continuum.
2. Translate scientific underpinnings into practice while influencing health care policy for advocacy in health care and instilling ethical comportment, professionalism, and health equity in nursing practice.
3. Demonstrate organizational and systems leadership in addressing complex health problems while using information systems and patient care technology for the transformation of health care.
4. Demonstrate expertise in advanced nursing practice addressing contributors and barriers to global and cultural inequities, disparities, and accessibility of quality and safe healthcare.
5. Collaborate inter-professionally to improve patient and population health outcomes.

Target Audience

The University of South Carolina Upstate, Mary Black College of Nursing provides a pipeline of graduates to meet the dire needs of healthcare in the Upstate and surrounding areas at the baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral levels.

The DNP program in public and community health nursing adds value to alumni and nurses who live and work in the Upstate by providing an accessible, high-quality educational nursing doctoral program.

Centrality to Institutional Mission/Strategic Plan

The DNP program is in congruence with the mission of University of South Carolina Upstate “to prepare its students to participate as responsible citizens in a diverse, global and knowledge-based society, to pursue excellence in their chosen careers and to continue learning throughout life.”