There are many important steps in developing a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project, and the discussion of its financing and strategic planning is one of them. Students, as potential financial experts, have to examine the expected sources of revenue and expected expenses to promote financial sustainability (Falk et al., 2015). This process helps to understand the basics of the DNP project and readiness to work in different fields. In this paper, the major stages of quality budget development, along with a detailed budget of the project, will be introduced to prove the worth of healthcare financing.
Healthcare Financing and Strategic Planning
One of the main recommendations students get from their tutors is to learn how to work strategically. The development of a strategic plan aims at improving communication, enhancing clarity, and organizing other participants. As well as any work, conducting research requires additional costs, efforts, and time. Healthcare financing ensures risks and prepayment discussions to predict people’s needs and meet allowed financial purposes. Finally, one should remember that a DNP project is the implementation of theoretical evidence into practice, and these transformations cannot go for free. Therefore, any scholarly contribution presupposes some monetary rewards, as well as spending, and researchers must be ready for them.
Steps for a Quality Budget Development Process
The goal of a quality budget is to understand possible expenses that are required to promote quality improvement in the chosen sphere or practice. Researchers have to investigate and predict their additional revenues to generate them within a project and evaluate the principles of satisfaction among interested parties. To succeed in budget development, it is expected to follow several critical steps. First, the creation of a strategic plan is integral as it shares the details of a mission statement and predictions of how a vision is promoted. The next step is the identification of project goals supported by evidence as a background.
Revenue and cost projections are based on previous financial performances and analyzed from the point of view of available resources and time. Board approval and budget review are the final steps in the process under consideration to clarify if enough information and sources are identified at the moment of planning.
Detailed Budget
To develop a budget means to study allowable costs and compare them with the requirements of an approval board (who are usually the sponsors of DNP projects). As it is shown in Table 1, there are direct and indirect expenses. Direct expenses are used to identify approximate salaries of the invited personnel (nurses, statisticians, and researchers) and the price of supplies and services. Indirect expenses are in the form of overhead costs, which usually include accounting fees, repairs, traveling, or rent. Revenue includes the benefits that are expected after the project is finished. This may be billing outcomes (the incomes that come after the project is published), grants, and budget support that may be offered to continue the investigation and discover some new aspects in the study.
Table 1. Budget.
Conclusion
In general, the analysis of the budget shows that the DNP project is properly organized and involved several participants who perform their roles and tasks. If all the steps mentioned in other stages of the work are followed, the expected costs have to be covered by the planned revenue, providing potential stakeholders with statistical evidence to support the project. Although students are not always good at financial planning, their budgetary plans demonstrate good analytical and critical thinking skills and readiness to investigate all areas of the work.
Reference
Falk, N. L., Garrison, K. F., Brown, M. M., Pintz, C., & Bocchino, J. (2015). Strategic planning and doctor of nursing practice education: Developing today’s and tomorrow’s leaders. Nursing Economic$, 33(5), 246-254. Web.