100% Online Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program

Dickey, Allison
Hello everyone and welcome to Methodist University’s virtual information session for our graduate-level nursing programs offered.
My name is Allison Dickey, Director of Enrollment, and I will allow our faculty members to introduce themselves.

Shannon Matthews
I am Doctor Shannon Matthews.
I am the Program Director for all our nursing programs here.
I have been in nursing for about 30 years, and 20 of those have been in education, so we are really excited to have this information session for you.

Lori Cooke
I’m Doctor Laurie Cook and part of the full-time faculty here at Methodist University.
I have been a nurse for 33 years and I have been in education for the past 10 years. Welcome.

Dickey, Allison
All right, to kick us off, I’ll be outlining the graduate certificate.

The graduate programs that we do offer, we have a graduate nursing education certificate with a total of 12 credit hours.

We also have a Master of Science in Nursing with an Administrative Leadership focus with a total of 36 credit hours.
We also have a Doctor in Nursing Practice with an Executive Leadership focus with 36 credit hours total.
Just to call out here, the number of credit hours you will need to complete will vary based on your qualified transferable credits.
All the more reason to speak with an Enrollment Counselor who knows the program and can walk you through your specific needs.

To kick us off the Graduate Certificate in Nursing Education program length is 12 credit hours, up to 9 credit hours can be counted towards both this certificate and our MSN degree.
Eight-week terms, 6 terms in a year.
And again, we offer full-time and part-time scheduling.
The cost is $545 per credit hour.
97% of our students do receive financial aid.

The admissions requirements are just to the right on the screen.
We need a completed application, a current unencumbered RN license, a bachelor’s degree in nursing with a GPA of 2.75 or higher transcripts, a letter of intent or personal statement, and a resume.

The program benefits for the Graduate certificate include coursework in a flexible online format, a dual credit available with the master’s in nursing, low student-to-faculty ratios for personalized attention, and real-world experience with industry connections.

Doctor Matthews, if you can walk us through the program outcomes?

Shannon Matthews
So we really developed this certificate program to help nurses who maybe were interested in becoming a nurse educator in their facility doing some adjunct work at a Community College and maybe even moving on towards a university teaching, teaching opportunities?
So there’s a lot of real-world experience and to prepare you for the educator role in clinical and academic settings.

Dickey, Allison
How about the curriculum, Dr Matthews?
If you could walk us through how this really sets us apart and give us a little understanding of the curriculum offered?

Shannon Matthews
Sure. This curriculum is 12 credit hours and can be completed in really in three semesters. We got it developed where your nursing 5000 is first nursing theory and education. That’s one of the courses that’s really going to be kind of the core of getting you the educational and theoretical foundation.
Then you get assessment, evaluation, curriculum development and program design.
There are two practical components to this, and many of these clinical hours could be completed in your current practice area. Maybe completing an in-service or some educational development for your clinical setting.

But also, we can have you work with like a Community College or university setting and do some clinical hours there, in an academic setting we can tailor that to your clinical needs and your career goals.

Dickey, Allison
Wonderful. Thank you.
Moving right along to the Master of Science and Nursing with the Administrative Leadership focus, this program length is 36 credit hours, up to 9 credit hours are transferable, and again eight-week terms.
Six terms a year, full-time and part-time scheduling is available to you.
The cost is $545 per credit hour and another reminder, 97% of our students receive financial aid.
The admissions requirements are towards the right.
We do need a completed application, a current unencumbered RN license, a bachelor’s degree with a 2.7 GPA or higher transcripts resume, and a letter of intent or personal statement.

Now the benefit of the Master’s in Nursing is that coursework is 100% online.
It’s very flexible, full-time and part-time scheduling is available to you.
So whatever works best for you and your family.
Up to 9 transfer credits can be accepted.

For the capstone and practicum components, we are seeking CCNE accreditation.
500 clinical hours, dual credit available
Low student-to-faculty ratio for personalized attention real-world experience and industry connections.

Doctor Matthews, if you could walk us through the Program Outcomes for the Master’s?

Shannon Matthews
So really this is designed for the bachelor’s prepared nurse to really enhance their career mobility into management, leadership roles, or even academia.
Most of your undergraduate programs will require a master’s level at the minimum, so this is a great starting point for someone really wanting to go into education.
But also, if you’re in the bedside role or out in practice and really want to stretch into more of a leadership position, maybe some quality improvement or Nurse Educator Management, those types of positions, this Master of Science in Nursing is really going to set you up for that mobility in your career.

Dickey, Allison
Wonderful. Thank you.
And the curriculum, how does this set us apart again and really prepare us for real-world experience?

Shannon Matthews
Sure.
The Nursing 5000, which I mentioned in the Education Certificate.
Again, that’s got your Nursing Theory, which is going to guide the rest of the curriculum.
You’re going to get some data analysis, so that’s really being able to look at statistics and understand, you know, the evidence so that you can make informed and educated decisions in that core.
On the right-hand side, you see, we’ve got our leadership focus and that’s where we’re going to get all of your clinical hours.
You’ll be doing a lot of precepting enrolls that maybe you aspire to work as a Nurse Manager or Nurse Educator. So we’ll get you a preceptor in those roles so that you can work alongside them for some, for some shadowing and precept clinical hours in that the interface interprofessional collaboration is one of our program outcomes and we want you to work alongside maybe someone in pharmacy.

Some disciplines outside, maybe physical therapy, we will connect you with some outlets outside of nursing just to expand that collaboration and communication with outside our discipline, and we also offer the electives Quality and Safety and Organizational Behaviors for a real leadership stretch.
But then you can also add that to the Nursing Education Certificate if you want to do the dual programs and do both of those together.
It really only adds, I think, one course outside of this whole curriculum and then you can get your MSN with an education certificate kind of embedded in it.
So that was one of the real things we tried hard to do, those two together to set someone up who wants to do leadership but maybe wants to do education also or have that down the road and can really be portable and transferable for them.

Dickey, Allison
Absolutely. Thank you for that breakdown.
Moving along to the Doctor in Nursing Practice with the Executive Leadership –
this program length is 36 credit hours, up to six credit hours are transferable.
We’ve got eight-week terms, 6 terms a year, full-time and part-time scheduling available.
The cost is $545 per credit hour and the admissions requirements are to the right.

Here we need a completed application, current unencumbered RN license. We need a master’s degree in nursing or a bachelor’s degree in nursing from a four-year regionally accredited college or university and a master’s degree in a business or health-related educational field (MBA, MHA, MPH, M.Ed., etc.)
The cumulative GPA needs to be at a 3.0 or higher transcripts.
We need a current resume or cover letter and a written description of personal goals and practice project interest.

OK, the program benefits coursework again, is flexible, online, and there are two opportunities to start the program, twice a year, Fall I and Spring I afterward.
Six terms are offered per year.
Transfer credits can be accepted for 1000 clinical hours, and 500 are transferable from that MSN program.
Dual credit is available with a Nursing Education Graduate Certificate.
We are seeking CCNE accreditation and have low student-to-faculty ratios for that personalized attention and real-world experience and industry connections.

Now, Doctor Cook, if you could walk us through the program outcomes for the Doctor in Nursing Practice?

Lori Cooke
This program really is now a step-up in terms of leadership focus.
We’re really looking at individuals who are interested in advanced leadership positions such as Chief Nursing officers, Unit Managers or Directors, as well as Community Nurse Leaders.
And so this program really is wanting to take that business aspect approach, as well of management that we see happen within the healthcare setting, and help our nurse leaders understand the business in addition to the practice side of things.

Dickey, Allison
Wonderful. Thank you.
Now, if you could walk us through the curriculum, how does this really set us apart again and prepare us for real-world experience?

Lori Cooke
So our curriculum is kind of developed into three sections, as you can see reflected here on the slide.
So our core component has 16 credit hours as part of your Doctorate.
You are actually going to go through and develop a quality improvement or evidence-based practice project that could be implemented.
What we have here is a series of courses that will walk you through the development step by step of that project; you will have our faculty mentor as well as a community mentors throughout this process.
Then when you go into that, we have our leadership area of discovery.
So again, this is going to be those business aspects that you would need to understand the financial background.
The other thing that we’re really trying to do is help you as a nurse leader be effective at a local state, national and even global level.
And so we have some advancing equity and inclusion in global health that is included in our curriculum, and also population driven for those that are in a community setting.

Then last but not least, we have some electives, which allows you to broaden or step further into what you really would like to do.
You can grab from that nursing education track that we talked about as well.

When we take a look at the 1000 credit hours, that looks a little overwhelming at the beginning, but you do have to realize that 500 of those are transferred from an MSN that you would have.
You also have the opportunity, if you would like to do the Nurse Educator, to bring another 150 hours into the piece, you will gain hours working on your project and shadowing and engaging with community leaders as you are going through this process.
So although it seems like a rather large number, you know there is a plan to help make it attainable for you.

Dickey, Allison
Absolutely. Thank you, Doctor Cook.
Now, financial assistance; another reminder, 97% of our students receive financial aid.
Our FAFSA link and school code are right at the top here.
We do have various scholarships and grants, including merit-based, need-based, talent talent-based offered by businesses, civic groups, foundations, churches, and more to save on your education.

We even have scholarships.
If you’re transferring from a local Community College, we have partnerships where you could be eligible for a 10% tuition reduction.
Methodist does work with select organizations to make sure you can advance your education, and your career in an affordable, timely manner.

I also want to mention we do have a 10% discount on tuition for Cape Fear Valley Medical Center and First Health employees and their immediate family members through the Chamber of Commerce.

We have strong support for military families as well.
We are a Yellow Ribbon School, Military Gold Friendly and we were voted Best for Vets supporting the GI Bill and various other scholarship opportunities.
Again, if you would like to pick up the phone and discuss your opportunities, our phone number is listed below.
Now, if you are ready to apply and you’ve done your research, you can use the link just below.
But if you are just dipping your toes in the water, need to soundboard with an expert to really go over your options, you can request more information and we can communicate via email, via text, over the phone, whatever works best for you and your schedule.

And concluding with our contact information, our online admissions contact information is just at the top.
You can always give us a call.
We will be available until 9:00 PM, Eastern

Doctor Tina Miller is listed next.
She is the Director of Online and Transfer Student Support.

We also have the wonderful Doctor Shannon Matthews, Director of Nursing Programs with her contact information listed below, and Jennifer Caviness, Admissions Coordinator and Academic Advisor.

We want to thank you for your time today.
Please reach out if you have any questions at all, and we look forward to speaking with you soon.
Thank you everyone.