Passions will turn into practices when Grand Valley State University’s first students graduate from the Doctor of Nursing Practice program this spring.

Linda Scott, professor and associate dean for graduate programs in GVSU’s Kirkhof College of Nursing, said a standard Ph.D program is a research-focused degree, whereas the DNP is a practice-focused degree still using research as evidence. The DNP graduates focus on improving health care in three ways: providing better health, providing better care and providing both of these things at a lower cost.

Jaci Lubbers, a student in the DNP program, works as a pediatric nurse practitioner along the lakeshore.

“I am looking at how primary care can better detect and offer services to depressed adolescents,” Lubbers said. “I felt like I personally didn’t have the tools to be doing a good job in delivering care to them.”

Scott said the basis of all dissertations is to get the students “into the literature and really sort out the evidence, and identify the best evidence” and make a change in practice with it. There is about an 18-year gap between when research is generated and conducted and when it is actually put into place, she said.

Elaine Leigh, an affiliate clinical faculty member in the Kirkhof College of Nursing, began the program because of her clinical expertise in gastroenterology focusing on Hepatitis C patients.

“I started this program to improve the care for people who have Hepatitis C,” Leigh said. “I mean, part of my reason for going to school was to make a difference.”

Emily Quiney, a nurse practitioner for Spectrum Health, did her dissertation looking at different models providing free care for uninsured populations across the country and evaluating the quality of the health coverage in a clinic on the lakeshore.

“I have a passion for health care as a whole and how can I start to try to make a difference [as much] as possible with patients who are not receiving care that they need to stay healthy throughout their lifespan,” Quiney said.

The DNP students not only hope to improve the health care system, but also strengthen their personal skills.

“I think ultimately what this program is preparing me to do is to be a better leader in healthcare,” Leigh said.

Quiney said she hopes to become more involved with the executive staff of the hospital department after she graduates, while Lubbers said she wishes to strengthen her skills with partners of education to help fight adolescent depression.

The KCON is getting ready to admit the fourth class that will start next fall. The DNP program was started in the fall of 2009, and there are about 55 doctoral students right now.

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