MGH Guides: DNP Intensive: Welcome

Introductory Videos

Please watch these brief videos from Dr. Margie Sipe and from the library. Then, explore this guide.

Welcome. My name is Dr. Margie Sipe and I am the director of the doctor of nursing practice program here at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. We are very excited that you have chosen to come on board and learn with us as you embark on this important step in your professional journey. We’ve put together an exciting curriculum that is both integrative and innovative. We feel it will address the needs of graduate level nurses to help them assess their practice environments as well as their own practice and work through the current situations and issues in nursing using evidence and through studying reflection be well poised to transform practice as a doctorly prepared leader regardless of your practice setting. During weeks ahead and throughout your time with us we will be exposing you to many new ideas, some of these will be disruptive innovations or transforming of _____ (0:56 seconds) modalities and hopefully at the end of this you will begin to see things through a new lens that will enable you look at your practice and your environments in a different way. We ask of you to engage with us and to take advantage of the many opportunities that will be available to you as a student in this program. You will be exposed to some of the greatest thinkers and clinicians in nursing and beyond. This will be hard work but it will be well worth your effort and we will push you, encourage you, and work with you to put your learning into practice and to really think about ways that you can advance what you’ve learned and take it to an entirely different level. We recognize that you will be the future of nursing and we want you to be recognized as someone who has achieved the highest level of nursing practice with the DNP degree. To assist you, our librarians and faculty here at the institute have put together a learning packet that has a number of different tabs on it and in those tabs you’ll find additional links. This will be a great resource to you to review as you start your program into what you can tap into in terms of knowledge and an entirely, and some entirely different areas that you may have looked at before. We know you will go back to it many times. We think you’ve made a great decision to join us here and we are available to assist you in anyway we can. So please reach out to myself or any of our faculty and we look forward to working with you in the weeks ahead.

Library Orientation

If you haven't yet watched the orientation video for the library, do so now. This video gives you an essential introduction to our services and the website.

8 Things to Know About the Bellack Library
Get to know us with this infographic.
Research Roller Coaster
When should you reach out to a librarian? Ride the research roller coaster to find out! This infographic breaks a research project into its steps and recommends ways the library can help at each stage of the process.

E-Books for DNP Students

Check out these e-book titles geared towards the learning and practicing DNP. Click the link in the title to get to the full text. Some of these are assigned as course texts.

Philosophies and Theories for Advanced Nursing Practice by Janie B. Butts; Karen L. Rich
ISBN: 9781284112245
Publication Date: 2017-03-23
Click title to access full text.
The Doctor of Nursing Practice Essentials, 4th ed. by Mary Zaccagnini; Judith M. Pechacek
ISBN: 9781284167078
Publication Date: 2019-10-15
DNP Education, Practice, and Policy, Second Edition by Linda Andrist (Editor); Sheila Davis (Editor); Valerie Fuller (Editor); Stephanie Ahmed (Editor)
ISBN: 9780826140180
Publication Date: 2018-04-28
Fundamentals of Health Care Improvement by Gregory S. Ogrinc
ISBN: 9781635850376
Publication Date: 2018-01-01
DNP Role Development for Doctoral Advanced Nursing Practice, Second Edition by H. Michael Dreher; Mary Ellen Smith Glasgow
ISBN: 9780826171733
Publication Date: 2016-11-15
Evaluation of Health Care Quality for DNPs by Joanne V. Hickey; Christine A. Brosnan
ISBN: 9780826131577
Publication Date: 2016-06-01
Practice-Based Clinical Inquiry in Nursing by Joan R. Bloch (Editor); Maureen R. Courtney (Editor); Myra L. Clark (Editor)
ISBN: 9780826126948
Publication Date: 2016-02-26
DNP Capstone Projects by Barbara A. Anderson; Joyce M. Knestrick; Rebeca Barroso
ISBN: 9780826130259
Publication Date: 2014-09-01
Applying Conceptual Models of Nursing by Jacqueline Fawcett
ISBN: 9780826180056
Publication Date: 2016-10-01
Clinical Research for the Doctor of Nursing Practice by Allison J. Terry
ISBN: 9781284117585
Publication Date: 2017-06-30
Click title to access full text.
Clinical Analytics and Data Management for the Dnp, Second Edition by Martha L. Sylvia
ISBN: 9780826142771
Publication Date: 2018-02-28
Click title to access full text.
Gordis Epidemiology (6th ed.) by David D. Celentano; Moyses Szklo
ISBN: 9780323552295
Publication Date: 2018-11-26

Quality Improvement Resources

Quality Improvement (QI) is "the framework we use to systematically improve the ways care is delivered to patients" (AHRQ, 2013). This framework is often used as a basis for DNP capstone projects. As such, highlighted here are QI resources that can help you become more familiar with the process and use it in your own work.

AHRQ Approaches to Quality Improvement
An in depth explanation of Quality Improvement from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
AHRQ Quality Measure Tools & Resources
Quality improvement measurement, tools, and information, including AHRQ Quality Indicators Hospital Toolkit, ambulatory clinical performance measures, and TalkingQuality.
SQUIRE: Standards for QUality Improvement REporting
Learn more about the SQUIRE guidelines, a framework for reporting new knowledge about how to improve healthcare.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Resources
To help you with your improvement efforts, IHI offers free tools, change ideas, measures to guide improvement, IHI White Papers, audio and video, improvement stories, and more.
JAMA Article: How to use an article about quality improvement
Fan, E., Laupacis, A., Pronovost, P. J., Guyatt, G. H., & Needham, D. M. (2010). How to use an article about quality improvement. JAMA, 304(20), 2279–2287. https://phstwlp2.partners.org:3267/10.1001/jama.2010.1692
Quality Improvement Minimum Quality Criteria Set (QI-MQCS): a tool for critical appraisal of quality improvement intervention publications
The QI-MQCS is a validated tool to help you appraise published QI research. This page has the original article about its development. The supplementary material contains the manual for how to use the tool.

BMJ Quality & Safety
Provides essential information on how to reduce harm and increase patient safety worldwide; it reflects and reports on the latest quality improvement initiatives within health care.
Journal for Healthcare Quality
The Journal for Healthcare Quality is an indispensable resource for healthcare professionals. It publishes scholarly articles that are targeted to leaders of all healthcare settings, leveraging applied research and producing practical, timely and impactful evidence in healthcare system transformation.
Journal of Nursing Care Quality
The fundamental purpose of the Journal of Nursing Care Quality (JNCQ) is to keep practicing nurses and those who play leadership roles in nursing care quality programs fully current on the utilization of quality principles and concepts in the practice setting. JNCQ explores the many different issues and challenges that nursing leaders face, and offers cutting-edge examples and case studies, how-to features on the latest innovations, and proven quality care strategies and solutions.
The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety
A peer-reviewed publication dedicated to providing health professionals with the information they need to promote the quality and safety of health care.