Quinnipiac University is adding a doctor of nursing practice degree this fall, as the private Hamden-based college continues to expand its offerings of health care education.
The current two-year nurse practitioner master’s level program will transition to a three-year, clinical doctorate program. The DNP program will offer five tracks, including two postmaster’s degree tracks. The state Board of Governors for Higher Education has approved Quinnipiac’s program, said Lynn Price, chair of the nursing department.
The program will be housed in Quinnipiac’s new School of Nursing, which the university will formally establish on July 1. A national search for the school’s dean is currently under way. The School of Nursing will be located on Quinnipiac’s North Haven Campus.
“Primary health care has become more complex, and primary care clinicians now are responsible for so much more than what was required 20 years ago,” Price said. The pressure to increase access to health care for more people has also placed more responsibilities on nurses and other health professionals, as has the decline in the numbers of practicing primary care physicians, she said.
Quinnipiac is also in the process of building its medical school, which is scheduled to open in 2013.
