Looking for DNP project ideas?

What capstone nursing project ideas should you explore? Easy DNP project ideas?

Well, DNP projects are some of the most essential nursing capstone projects for nursing students.

This makes the above questions quite pertinent.

But before you answer them, it is important to understand what a DNP project encompasses.

What is a DNP Project?

So, what is a DNP project? What does it entail?

“In nutshell, a DNP program is a culminating project that prepares students on ways to bridge the gap between new science and practice integration.”  

Accordingly, candidates exploring DNP project ideas are expected to create projects that apply research, plans, and practices that advance implementation and profession outcomes.

Note that DNP projects take different forms.

Types of DNP Projects

Understanding the different types of DNP projects is essential in helping identify the DNP project ideas to explore.

Looking for easy DNP project ideas?

What areas should you study?

To answer these questions, you need to understand the different areas of DNP project study.

Such areas may include:

Translation of research into practice application

As one of the most common areas of nursing practice, it presents huge opportunities for viable capstone nursing project ideas.

These types of DNP projects examine areas and ideas such as:

1. Implementation and evaluation of evidence based practice guidelines
2. Quality improvement, including patient outcomes and care processes
3. Design and use of databases to gather information meant to shape planning, decision-making, and evaluation
4. Design and evaluation of new care models
5. Policy analysis, including development, implementation, evaluation, and revision of policy
6. Execution of financial analysis studies to compare care models and identify potential cost saving opportunities
7. Design and evaluation of programs
8. Implementation and evaluation of innovative technology use to evaluate and enhance care
9. Collaboration with researchers to find answers to clinical questions
10. Provision of leadership in intra-professional and inter-professional collaborative projects for care models evaluation, policy implementation, transitions, etc.
11. Enhancement of collaboration on legislation on healthcare related change guided by research evidence

Health promotion and community health

As well, health promotion and community health is another study area where you could derive your DNP project ideas from. This area looks at issues such as:

1. Evaluation of trends in patient visits and the effects of health outreach programs
2. Comparison of strategies for health promotion or disease prevention in schools, churches, communities, etc.
3. Evaluation of screening protocols founded on outcome data
4. Launch of collaborative health promotion programs targeting vulnerable population and evaluation of outcomes
5. Development and evaluation of self-care models on chronic illnesses
6. Comparison and contrast of monitoring tools or screening programs, evaluation of effectiveness, outcomes, costs, and savings
7. Evaluation of community responses to disasters based on specific outcome criteria
8. Evaluation of programs (education, training of volunteers, care) and demonstration of cost implications
9. Evaluation of high risk patients and development of risk reduction approaches (e.g. elder and child abuse) for care improvement and policy change
10. Development and examination of transition protocols for promoting care continuity across settings

Evaluation of interventions and innovations in care techniques

This is another area to explore for DNP project ideas. The study area focuses on issues like:

1. Capture of data on common problems treatment effectiveness designed to make change recommendations
2. Gather baseline data, develop evidence based intervention plans and evaluation processes
3. Evaluation of management of psychiatric patients (medications, protocols, and metabolic monitoring) and development of treatment management programs based on research evidence
4. Evaluation of peer led support groups and measurement of outcomes
5. Promotion of patient safety through implementation of medication errors reduction programs and measurement of outcomes
6. Collaboration with other NPs and other professionals to evaluate or compare group visits
7. Evaluation of home care compared and contrasted with NP and physician care management satisfaction
8. Evaluation of pain control in palliative care and measurement of outcomes

Policy-related projects

You can as well look for DNP project ideas in policy-related areas. Issues in this area include:

1. Evaluation and comparison of students at risk (substance abuse, school dropout, pregnancy, depression) and recommendation of risk reduction programs or policy change
2. Evaluation of effectiveness of evidence based policies in care environments
3. Implementation of new policies supporting collaboration through design and evaluation of HPV vaccination for young girls aimed at cancer prevention (partnership with schools and Health Department etc.)
4. Evaluation of employer policies on health and potential cost savings of new policies
5. Evaluation and comparison of nursing home policies designed to treat chronic pain compared with WHO recommendations
6. Evaluation of inconsistencies in practice issues scope and use of evidence based knowledge to recommend changes

Integration of technology in care and informatics

This is another area where you could look for DNP project ideas. The area focuses on issues such as:

1. Establishment of protocols that foster integration of patient assessment in urgent care and evaluation of their impact
2. Evaluation of technology’s impact on care aspects like information transfer to point of care
3. Creation of database for monitoring child injuries in urgent care and evaluation of its impact
4. Us of technology to improve care (interactive home visits, telehealth consultation, etc.) and evaluation of results

Community action projects

This is also an area where you could look for DNP projects ideas. It examines issues such as:

1. Collaboration between professionals and lay people to develop, implement, and evaluate programs (disease prevention and health promotion targeting vulnerable patients, groups, or communities). DNP project ideas in this area should evaluate projects seeking to benefits groups or communities and not individual patients.

DNP Project Ideas

You can look for DNP project ideas from a number of nursing areas, including but not limited to the above ones. Whether it is complex or easy DNP project ideas, you should ensure that they match your interests as a nursing student.

That said, examples of DNP project ideas include:

1. Implementation of a standardized screening workflow for hypertension in a retail clinic setting
2. Safe foot care for African American patient with type 2 diabetes
3. Increasing nurse job satisfaction: Use of patient care huddles
4. Smoking cessation programs for coronary artery disease patients
5. Implementation of an antibiotic stewardship improvement project in an urgent care setting
6. A labor induction outcomes improvement kit  
7. Standardized assessment and documentation procedure of pain in long-term care
8. Prevalence of symptoms in multiple sclerosis patients
9. Using innovation to prevent pressure injuries in adult medical-surgical patients
10. A community based approach to improving dietary habits and promoting nutritional awareness  
11. Enhancing adherence to medication reconciliation knowledge among advanced practice providers through an emergency department educational program
12. Strategies for improving patient flow in an urgent care facility
13. Evidence-based practice update for nurse practitioners working in an urgent care unit
14. Improving medication adherence in heart failure patients through screening and of motivational interviewing
15. Prevention of obesity in young children
16. A medication safety education program designed to reduce the risk of harm resulting from medication errors
17. A standardize pain management protocol designed to reduce postoperative complication rates in children undergoing tonsillectomy
18. Empowering community health: a faith-based approach
19. A strategy designed to reduce distress among isolated blood and marrow transplant patients post-transplantation
20. Access to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis screening, counseling, and utilization
21. Integrated model of dementia care in nursing homes
22. An evidence-based toolkit developed to prevent meningococcal meningitis in college students
23. An evaluation of a school-based asthma protocol
24. A clinical bundle program designed to reduce peri-intubation hypoxia in a pre-hospital setting
25. Certification and competencies in nursing informatics: A report on the current state and future recommendations  
26. An evidence-based ovarian cancer education toolkit: A pilot study
27. Patient-centered goal setting approach designed to improve diabetes care
28. Consequences, prevention, and treatment of childhood overweight and obesity
29. Predictors first-year nursing student risk for early departure
30. A dual-diagnosis treatment plan implementation
31. The predictive value of second trimester blood pressures on the development of preeclampsia
32. Translation of autism screening research into practice
33. Effectiveness of chronic disease self-management programs among mentally ill inmates with diabetes
34. Strategic adaptation plan for a patient-centered medical home  
35. A decision-making module in early pregnancy loss for advanced practice providers
36. Development of a web-based healthcare information database and call center
37. Leadership, advocacy, and policy: Development of a doctors of nursing practice professional organization
38. Adherence of hypertension guidelines among retail health setting providers
39. Optimizing inpatient heart failure education program designed to support self-care after discharge
40. Media influence on nutritional choices among school-age children
41. APRN burnout within a pediatric acute care environment
42. Development of a virtual nursing study rooms to bridge the practice gap
43. Interdisciplinary simulation training program for evidence-based obstetric crisis management
44. Evaluation of pain management practices among women in labor
45. A web-based group intervention program for patients with recurrent or metastatic pancreatic cancer
46. Effects of health education on physical activity and nutrition of school children
47. A multi-method approach for evaluating online distance learning in nursing education
48. Development of a strategic development plan for a dedicated education unit and clinical teaching associate role
49. A strategic plan for the development of an inpatient hospice program
50. Incorporating clinical-academic partnership education and socialization into the nursing role
51. a strategic plan for promoting health in the Hispanic/Latino population through internet-based social networks
52. Implementing evidence-based practice in an acute-care hospital unit
53. A criterion-based job description and performance assessment for the advanced practice nurse
54. Deploying a geriatric nurse practitioner in an emergency department to improve outcomes for geriatric patients
55. A strategic plan for the development of a HIV co-infected diabetics model of care for patients in an inner-city clinic
56. Implementation of routine HIV testing for hospitalized patients
57. Development of an evidence-based, in-patient alcohol detoxification guideline for culturally diverse adults
58. Prevention of falls in the medical surgical setting
59. Conducting a randomized household survey in an underserved urban community
60. A comprehensive systematic review focusing on the influence of the transformational leadership style on nursing staff in acute care hospitals