Practice Immersion Hour Requirements

For DNP education, your immersion hours will help you meet the requirements for the DNP program.

Preceptor Availability & Scheduling Hours

The student's immersion hours are to be scheduled with the Immersion site. Students are expected to participate in the required number of practice immersion hours prescribed by the immersion course, and students are expected to amend their own personal and work schedules accordingly.

Students are expected to begin their immersion experience when the course begins to ensure adequate time to complete course requirements unless stated otherwise in the syllabus. Students are not permitted to begin hours PRIOR to the start date of the course, or on holiday breaks without approval, and the course required hours must be completed prior to the end of the course. If hours are not completed within the practice immersion course dates, the student will be required to retake the practice immersion and project course. If a student fails or withdrawals from an immersion course, the respective hours will be rejected and all hours must be made up to meet the course requirement, immersion hours do not rollover from course to course - students must obtain the minimum required hours of each immersion course. By the end of the program all practice immersion hours must be completed.

The following courses have an immersion component that will require completion of immersion hours:

DNP707 - 135 Hours
DNP708P - 45 Hours
DNP710 - 135 Hours
DNP711 - 135 Hours
DNP712 - 90 Hours

The practice site may be a healthcare system, hospital, public health agency, clinic, or other healthcare organization. USU does not restrict students from using their current place of employment and does not restrict students from receiving compensation from their site during the immersion experience. Students may not work with a project mentor who is a spouse, domestic partner, or first-degree relative unless they have written permission from the Program Director.

Documenting Hours

Timely and complete documentation is a professional responsibility of all clinicians. Students are expected to document all immersion experiences using Project Concert within 48 hours of the experience or the associated hours will not count towards immersion hours or course requirements. Students are required to obtain a minimum of 500 immersion hours. Hours are entered into Project Concert by completing hours log and journal entry logs. Students will need to log all time and activities related to their project to receive credit for the hours.

Hours & Journal Entry Breakdown

Definition of Experiences and Requirements:

Attaining case requirements, patient or practice contact hours, completing specified procedures, demonstrating experiential competencies, or a combination of these elements. "Proficiency may be acquired through a variety of methods, such as, attaining case requirements, patient or practice contact hours, completing specified procedures, demonstrating experiential competencies, or a combination of these elements" (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2006, p. 20).

Examples of Scholarship of Practice (directly from AACN Toolkit)

While not intended to be an inclusive list, the following are examples of the scholarship of practice (AACN, 2018):

Develops best practices for incorporation of findings generated through translational and implementation science.
Publishes to impact practice via peer-reviewed venues.
Disseminates policy papers through peer-reviewed media.
Disseminates practice-based findings at regional, national, or international meetings.
Analyzes system-wide data to evaluate practice patterns and/or uncovering new issues related to practice from such data.
Serves as a clinical practice specialist in partnerships that advance research, clinical improvements, policy development and/or implementation.
Analyzes big data (such as healthcare systems dashboard measures) or conducts policy analysis at the community, state, national, or international level.
Engages with stakeholders including patients, coalitions, corporations, and industries to educate the workforce, develop clinical innovations, and/or translate research for practice transformation.
Influences policy through leadership activities at the local, national, and international level and participates on policy think tanks.
Translates research and utilizes evidence to improve health and generate practice-based knowledge.
Develops unique clinical nursing programs (within healthcare systems) or interventions with documented effectiveness.
Disseminates clinical programs or quality improvement initiatives in regional, national, or international arenas.
Establishes and evaluates quality improvement initiatives.
Leads in the development, review, and evaluation of clinical practice models to transform healthcare delivery.
Translates research and utilizes evidence to improve health, impact practice, and effect change in health systems.
Develops clinical guidelines, innovations, and new program initiatives.
Engages in systematic reviews that synthesize/summarize research findings to recommend solutions to current clinical problems.
Evaluates and reports population health, satisfaction, and cost outcomes.
Communicates to lay groups to promote translation and implementation of research findings demonstrating evidence-based best practices.
Consults within healthcare organizations to build capacity for improving care and implementing evidence-based practice.
Uses secondary data from the electronic medical record to evaluate health care processes and patient outcomes to improve quality of care.