Abstract
A critical component of doctor of nursing practice (DNP) education is practice immersion. DNP programs require 1000 hours of clinical practice experience to obtain the DNP degree.
Faculty struggle with providing meaningful clinical experiences congruent with the role of the DNP.
This article describes a unique practice immersion course joining DNP students with community health care partners to provide meaningful experiences with the potential to transform health care. DNP students are assigned system-level projects designed to create organizational change.
Over the course of 4 years, the practice immersion opportunities more than doubled from 30 to 66 live projects. Integrating collaborative practice immersion into the curriculum builds students' leadership skills and strengthens long-standing bonds among academia, practice, and the community.
The creation of structured, meaningful collaborations between DNP students and community partners is an approach that has the potential to facilitate transformative, sustainable change in health care.
