DNP/700 Week 5: Personal Doctoral Development Plan, sample paper

Finishing What I Start: A Personal Doctoral Development Plan for a Working Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and Parent, Built Against the Stressors That Predict Leaving and the EBP Competencies I Have Not Yet Met

[Student Name]

University of Phoenix

DNP/700: DNP Expectations Seminar

Week 5 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The author is a composite doctoral student written for a model paper.

I am a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at a community mental health center, where I carry a caseload of about 600 patients. I have two children, ages 8 and 11, and a spouse who works rotating shifts. I began this program knowing that many doctoral students do not finish. This paper uses evidence about why students leave and about nurses' evidence-based practice competencies to build a development plan I can realistically complete.

Why Doctoral Students Leave

Volkert et al. (2018) surveyed 835 PhD and DNP students nationally and used path analysis to examine how stressors predicted intent to leave. Two factors were significant: program stressors, especially problems in the relationship between the student and faculty or advisor, and declining support from family and friends. As program stress rose and family support fell, intent to leave increased. The authors concluded that programs cannot remove all stressors but can provide resources and support to reduce attrition.

My Risks

Both of these risks apply to me. I have not yet built a relationship with my advisor, and my family's schedule is already full. A plan that ignores these risks would be a plan to fail.

Evidence-Based Practice Competencies

Melnyk et al. (2018) surveyed 2,344 nurses from 19 hospitals and health systems and found that they reported not yet being competent in any of the 24 evidence-based practice competencies. Competency was higher among younger nurses and those with more education and was strongly associated with EBP beliefs and EBP mentorship. The authors called on academic programs to ensure EBP competency by graduation.

The evidence did not tell me whether I was smart enough to finish; it told me which supports people who finish have in place.

My EBP Self-Assessment

Using the competency areas as a guide, I rated myself. I am confident in asking clinical questions and in applying guidelines. I am not confident in systematically searching databases, critically appraising studies, synthesizing a body of evidence or evaluating the outcomes of a practice change. These gaps match the national findings and the purpose of the DNP.

Goal 1: Build the Advisor Relationship

Because student-advisor stress predicts intent to leave (Volkert et al., 2018), I will schedule a meeting with my advisor in the first two weeks of each term, share my timeline and constraints honestly and ask how she prefers to give feedback. If a problem arises, I will raise it early rather than let it grow.

Goal 2: Protect Family Support

I held a family meeting to explain my schedule: Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings are study time. My spouse and I aligned his shift requests with my heaviest weeks, and my mother agreed to take the children one afternoon a week. I will also keep Saturday as family time, which protects the support Volkert et al. (2018) found essential.

Goal 3: Build EBP Competency

Before my first anniversary in the program, I will complete a systematic search with the nursing librarian, appraise at least 10 studies using a structured tool and write a synthesis on a problem from my clinic, likely metabolic monitoring for patients on antipsychotics. I will also seek an EBP mentor, since mentorship was strongly associated with competency (Melnyk et al., 2018).

Goal 4: Scholarly Writing

I will submit at least two papers per term to the writing center and complete a formal APA workshop. My target is to reduce faculty writing corrections by half by the end of the first year. Writing matters beyond grades: DNP program directors have identified weak student scholarly writing as one of the challenges surrounding the DNP project (Dols et al., 2017).

Goal 5: Leadership

Leadership skills grow through practice rather than coursework alone.

I will join my agency's quality improvement committee this year to build experience leading change before my project.

Strengths I Bring

The plan is not only about gaps. I have ten years of clinical experience, a caseload that shows me practice problems every day and colleagues who have agreed to support a project. I am organized in clinical work and can transfer those habits to study. Naming strengths reminds me that I am not starting from nothing.

What the Program Offers

My program provides a writing center, a nursing librarian, a statistics tutor and a faculty advisor. I have saved their contact details and booked introductions with the librarian and writing center in the first month, since resources used early prevent problems later.

Managing Workload

I requested a reduction to 0.9 FTE, which my director approved. I will use a weekly planner with assignments mapped for each term and review it every Sunday. Large assignments are broken into steps with their own dates, so that a paper due in week five begins with a search in week two and an outline in week three.

Financial Planning

Tuition and reduced work hours strain our budget. I applied for my employer's tuition assistance, which covers part of each term, and a nurse faculty loan program. Knowing the full cost in advance prevents a financial surprise from derailing my studies.

Peer Support

I joined a cohort group chat and a weekly virtual study hour with two classmates who are also parents. Sharing strategies with people in the same situation reduces isolation, which is another quiet driver of leaving.

Self-Care

Burnout is a risk for both clinicians and students. I will keep my weekly exercise class and protect seven hours of sleep. I will also keep one evening a month for friends, since support from friends as well as family was part of what Volkert et al. (2018) found protective. If stress rises, I will use my employee assistance program.

Time Lost to Clinical Emergencies

Community mental health work brings crises that cannot wait. I will keep a one-week buffer before each major deadline, so that a crisis at work does not become a missed submission.

When Plans Change

If a family illness or job change disrupts my plan, I will consider a reduced course load for a term rather than withdrawing. Knowing this option exists makes a temporary setback less likely to become a permanent exit.

Checkpoints

At the end of each term, I will review my goals with my advisor, rate my progress and adjust the plan. Warning signs, such as falling behind two weeks or missing family time for a month, will trigger a conversation with my advisor about pacing.

Conclusion

National evidence shows that student-advisor stress and weak family support predict intent to leave doctoral study (Volkert et al., 2018) and that practicing nurses often lack evidence-based practice competencies (Melnyk et al., 2018). My plan answers these risks and gaps with specific goals for the advisor relationship, family support, EBP skills, writing and leadership, each with actions and checkpoints, so that I finish what I have started.

References

Dols, J. D., Hernández, C., & Miles, H. (2017). The DNP project: Quandaries for nursing scholars. Nursing Outlook, 65(1), 84-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2016.07.009

Melnyk, B. M., Gallagher-Ford, L., Zellefrow, C., Tucker, S., Thomas, B., Sinnott, L. T., & Tan, A. (2018). The first U.S. study on nurses' evidence-based practice competencies indicates major deficits that threaten healthcare quality, safety, and patient outcomes. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 15(1), 16-25. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12269

Volkert, D., Candela, L., & Bernacki, M. (2018). Student motivation, stressors, and intent to leave nursing doctoral study: A national study using path analysis. Nurse Education Today, 61, 210-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.11.033