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Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Community Members, This issue of Bridges marks the end of our 50th Anniversary Celebration at IPFW and the beginning of a dynamic new opportunity for our nursing students. Healthcare landscapes have certainly undergone radical transformation since the Department of Nursing first opened its doors. Today’s environment demands more of nursing professionals than ever before, often requiring advanced education, sophistication with new technologies, interdisciplinary skills and teamwork, and an increased focus on wellness. Here in the Department of Nursing, we have successfully implemented the campus’ first doctoral program--the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) option. It is a fitting capstone for the 50th Celebration of excellence that graduates of our new online program will be equipped to meet the growing demand for innovative leaders who can transform health care for the next 50 years. IPFW’s DNP program enriches the knowledge of master’s prepared nurses and provides them with the skills to become industry leaders in advanced practice nursing. Implementation of the curriculum for the DNP is not a solo act. IPFW is working in partnership with Purdue University—West Lafayette and Purdue University—Calumet. The uniqueness of the IPFW curricular contribution is a focus on new skills for transformative leadership. The concentration in transformative leadership prepares nurses for practice improvement and serves as 2
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a scaffold for the full DNP curriculum, which emphasizes evidencebased practice and translational research. The curriculum prepares our IPFW DNP students with competencies to develop innovative models of care leading to best practices, translate science to clinical practice, and improve patient safety and quality. Our advanced practice nursing graduates will be ready to meet the growing demand for innovative leaders who can transform healthcare systems and improve outcomes, quality, and cost. This issue of Bridges honors our unique contribution to the DNP. With the launch of the new DNP and the addition of the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Concentration at the Master’s level, IPFW Nursing isn’t simply changing—it is leading the change! As IPFW celebrates our 50th anniversary, we are celebrating new practice opportunities in the Department of Nursing! We invite you to join us in our continuing celebration of excellence.
Lee-Ellen C. Kirkhorn, PhD, RN Professor and Chair of Nursing, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne