USD’s PNP Program Is Going Strong!
Greetings from all of your USD PNP colleagues! Since I last wrote, there have been some exciting developments at USD. First, Susan Bonnell recently completed her PhD and is now coordinating the Masters Entry Program into Nursing at USD and leading international nursing trips to the Dominican Republic every winter. Our former colleague, Peggy Howarth, finished her DNP this past summer and has returned to private practice. Congratulations Dr. Susan and Dr. Peggy! Sue Desimone, PhD, CPNP, Zoe Droske, MSN, and Nicole Kastner, MSN, CPNP are back teaching with us again this year and we are thrilled to have them!
Two new PNPs joined our faculty this past year: Kathleen Sweeney, DNP, CPNP recently moved here from Pennsylvania. She earned her BSN from Michigan State University, her MSN from the University of Pittsburgh as a Pediatric CNS and PNP, and her DNP from Robert Morris University. Kathleen worked as a CNS in pediatric cardiology and pediatric critical care and served as PALS coordinator. She also practiced as a PNP with a primary care group in Pittsburgh and was Adjunct Faculty and Clinical Research Consultant at the University of Pittsburgh. Kathleen is interested in reflective learning and using simulation as a learning methodology in APRN education. She is also focused on reducing pediatric obesity and improving rates of breastfeeding. Kathleen has three children – two in college and one in junior high school. She has been involved with the Three Rivers Chapter of NAPNAP for many years and has been a podium presenter at previous NAPNAP conferences. She is thrilled to be living in San Diego and is looking forward to getting involved with our chapter.
Judy O’Haver, PhD, CPNP, came to us from Arizona State University. Judy is originally from upstate New York and received her BSN from Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York. Upon graduation she was commissioned in the Air Force and spent 3 1/2 years on active duty and then transferred into the Reserves and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. She finished her MSN in 1993 and in 1998, completed a post graduate program for pediatric nurse practitioners at Arizona State University. In 2007, she received a PhD in Nursing from University of Arizona. She currently is an Assistant Professor at University of San Diego and also practices as a Dermatology Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She is currently the president of the Arizona NAPNAP chapter and a member of the national conference committee. Additionally she is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, The Dermatological Nurses Association, the Society of Pediatric Dermatology, Phoenix Dermatological Society, and Phi Kappa Phi. She also reviews for multiple journals and is on the editorial board for a nursing journal for dermatology. Her passion in nursing is the comprehensive care of pediatric patients and the impact of chronic illness in a child on the family. Her current research focus addresses healthy lifestyle behaviors in this population.
Our School currently has 21 students enrolled in our PNP program, 5 pre-clinical, 10 first year students, and 6 PNP students who will graduate this coming summer. This is the most PNP students ever! We are now in the second year of our new PNP/FNP curriculum where all students complete a generic FNP program along with their PNP curriculum which, like before, remains an approved PNP program by the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board. We also offer a straight FNP program as well as a dual ANP/FNP program. We designed our NP program in this way to provide students with diagnostic and treatment skills across the lifespan, and to strengthen the pediatric content in our FNP and ANP programs, since the ANP scope of practice includes patients 13 years of age and older .
Our PNP program has two degree options for RNs with BSNs: the Doctor of Nursing Practice and the Master of Science in Nursing. Currently, about half of our first year class is enrolled in the DNP program and we expect that this number will continue to increase each year as we move exclusively to the DNP, targeted for fall, 2015 or before. Our BSN to DNP takes 33 months full-time, with students completing a clinical residency in their third year and a total of 1080 clinical hours while in the program. Part-time study is also available. We are also continuing to recruit NPs into our post-MSN DNP program which takes 21 months to complete. Since opening this program in 2008, we’ve graduated two classes and will graduate a third this coming spring.
Needless to say, we’ve been busy at USD and are working hard to produce the next generation of exceptional PNPs so that some of us can retire some day! Many thanks to all of you who are precepting our students as we couldn’t do this without you.
With best wishes,
Susan Instone, DNSc, CPNP
University of San Diego