Graduation Day is Approaching

Tomorrow (Sunday) begins the week of graduation in Denver, Colorado.  I hope to share some final thoughts about this journey throughout this week.

I successfully defended my dissertation yesterday.  I made it -- done, finished.  I am now considered to have earned the DNP.  It's been a long 2 years...but when I look back on it I am still happy to have undertaken this journey.  No regrets.

Final Phase

Well...I'm now in the final phase of my dissertation. I have finished the complete draft. Chapter 4 (Results) is being reviewed by the "stats" person on my dissertation committee. Once he's done if there are no major changes then I'll be able to proceed with sending my draft of Chapters 4 and 5 on to my chairperson for review.

I'm ready to be done....it's been a decent ride on this "merry-go-round" but I'm ready for the ride to stop.

January 18, 2012

It has been so long since I have updated this blog. I crossed a milestone this past weekend....I completed all of the didactic courses -- 36 semester hours. Was it worth it? Yes...unequivocally. I learned all along the way.

I am deeply enmeshed in working on my capstone (aka dissertation). I successfully defended my proposal around December 19, 2011. I was able to immediately request IRB approval afterwards. Once IRB approval from the university came through the first week of January I was able to begin data collection. My research project involves Registered Nurse adoption of social networking media -- this is a national study. As of today, I have slighty over 10,600 survey participants. The survey will be open for potential respondents for one more week. Afterwards.....let data analysis begin.

Sunday

What a whirlwind week. We finished up the Dissertation 1 course on Wednesday. Drove home. Worked Thursday and Friday, then left for vacation on Saturday -- where I've organized a trip for 18 people (10 adults, 8 youth). This is the "celebrate graduation" vacation. We're in San Juan now (arrived yesterday). Depart on a cruise this evening.

Happy Father's Day everyone.

Tuesday

All done now but the "shouting." This course has been about preparing us to accomplish our projects. It was structured with a variety of exercises to help us frame our research studies. I have accomplished all of the modules and completed the final project while here on site. I believe most of the rest of the class will get the modules complete while here but have to finish their final project (the first chapter of the research project) within the alloted 2 weeks of our "break." Since I'm going to be on vacation next week it was very important to me to get all of this done while I was here. So...for those who may be reading this to gather information on what's expected during the residency, my advice is to do as much advanced preparation on selecting your research topic and draft the first chapter of the proposal before you arrive for the residency.

So...what's next? I have 3 more formal courses to complete -- Advanced Statistics (or Qualitative Research for those doing a Qualitative study), Strategic Planning, and Strategic Leadership. Each of these courses are 8 weeks with 2 weeks off in between; therefore the formal courses will be done in early January. The final 2 courses are the "Dissertation" courses which are basically "independent" where we work with our Dissertation chair (mentor) to complete our study. I'm fairly disciplined and hope to keep working on my dissertation while in the other courses. If I can stay on track and manage both, I could potentially be done with everything by early February, 2012.

I feels great now to have both residencies done (well..this one is almost done).

Day 8 of Residency welcomes me. The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our disposition and not our circumstances. – Martha Washington