Background To thoughtfully and strategically embed the updated Essentials into Doctor of
Nursing Practice (DNP) curricula, it is important to understand the current landscape of the
DNP project. Method This discussion focuses on DNP project processes, providing a
summary of the core challenges and solutions for project design, implementation and
evaluation stages. Findings Main challenges include: Difficulty defining a practice gap or
absent training in protocol development for quality improvement (QI) projects (design stage); …