DNP Alumna Erin Downey was recently selected as the 2016-2017 recipient of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Excellence in Advancing Nursing Practice Award. This award is granted for an outstanding project in a DNP program for the project "Implementation of a Patient Agreement for Opioids and Stimulants in a Primary Care Practice.

The review committee noted many wonderful comments about Downey and her scholarship: "This is an outstanding DNP project, using evidence to address a high profile epidemic in the US, opioid prescribing. This project exemplified the project process with rigor and resulting in a quality improvement nursing. It is an example of bringing evidence to practice to improve quality care."

Downey will receive her award at the 2017 AACN Doctoral Education Conference in January 2017. Downey has also been invited to present an AACN webinar in the spring of 2017 highlighting her research.