WGU D219: Scholarship in Nursing Practice

What D219 Really Asks of You as a Nurse-Scholar

Scholarship in Nursing Practice (D219) is the course where WGU asks you to stop being only a bedside practitioner and start thinking like a nurse who reads, questions, and applies research. Housed in the Leavitt School of Health, it sits in the RN-to-BSN track and introduces evidence-based practice (EBP): the disciplined habit of asking a clinical question, hunting down the best available evidence, and judging whether that evidence should change what you do at work. If you have ever wondered why a unit protocol changed or where a "best practice" actually came from, this course teaches you to answer that yourself.

Direct answer: D219 is passed by completing a written performance assessment, not a multiple-choice test. To pass, work through the Johns Hopkins EBP modules and CITI training first, then build one focused PICO(T) question and support it with a small set of real, appraised research and non-research sources in correct APA 7th edition format. Book early instructor appointments to check your question and articles before you write.

Because this is a scholarship course, the skills carry forward. The same appraisal and citation habits you build here reappear in later nursing coursework and in any field experience or capstone you eventually complete. Treat D219 as the foundation for reading evidence for the rest of your career, and the effort feels purposeful rather than academic busywork.

How This Course Is Assessed

D219 is evaluated entirely through performance assessment (PA) work — there is no proctored objective exam to sit. Your grade comes from graded coursework and a written task you submit to evaluators, revise if needed, and resubmit until it meets the rubric. In practice the course has two moving parts:

• Direct-graded EBP modules built on the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice (JHNEBP) model, with unit content and quizzes you complete as you go.
• A written performance task in which you identify a practice problem, frame an EBP question, gather and appraise supporting evidence, and present a recommendation.

Because it is task-based rather than test-based, "studying" here means producing a clean, well-cited document — not memorizing facts for a timed exam.

The Topics and Tools You Will Actually Use

How Hard Is It, and How Long Should You Budget?

D219 is not conceptually brutal, but it rewards care and punishes rushing. Many students report that the difficulty is less about understanding evidence-based practice and more about hitting the exact rubric requirements — the right kind of PICO question, the right count and type of sources, and flawless APA citations. The most common frustration you will read about is a task sent back for revision over an appraisal detail or a formatting slip, not over a failure to grasp the material.

Time-wise, students commonly describe finishing in a few focused weeks when they keep momentum, though writing-heavy tasks stretch longer for anyone who is rusty at scholarly formatting. If academic writing and APA are comfortable for you, this can move quickly; if they are not, front-load practice on those skills. Either way, plan for at least one revision cycle so an evaluator's feedback does not feel like a setback.

A Practical Plan for Working Through D219

Because the deliverable is a document, your study plan is really a production plan. This sequence keeps you from writing yourself into a corner:

1. Clear the prerequisites first. Complete the CITI human-subjects training early — it is required and easy to forget until it blocks your submission. Knock it out in week one.
2. Learn the model before you write. Work the Johns Hopkins EBP modules and take notes on the PET process and the evidence-level hierarchy. You cannot appraise sources correctly if you can't name the levels.
3. Draft and validate your PICO question. Pick a real, narrow practice problem and write your PICO(T). Then book an instructor appointment to confirm it is answerable before you invest hours searching. A weak question is the single biggest cause of rework.
4. Search deliberately, not endlessly. Use PubMed and CINAHL with the terms from your question. Save every source with its full citation the moment you find it so APA is not a scramble at the end.
5. Appraise as you read. For each source, note whether it is research or non-research and what level and quality it represents. Use active recall here: after reading an article, close it and write one sentence on why it does or doesn't support your intervention.
6. Write, then space your revisions. Draft the task, set it aside a day, and reread against the rubric line by line. Spacing your review even a little catches the citation and synthesis errors that evaluators flag.

If you have used spaced repetition and practice testing in earlier general-education courses, apply the same discipline to the evidence levels and APA rules here — a short daily quiz to yourself on "what level is a systematic review?" pays off faster than rereading modules.

Mistakes That Send D219 Tasks Back

• A PICO question that is too broad or not answerable — everything downstream inherits the flaw, so validate it first.
• Confusing research and non-research evidence, or mislabeling the level of a source during appraisal.
• Skipping or half-completing CITI training and discovering the gap at submission.
• APA 7th edition errors — missing in-text citations, malformed references, or paraphrased ideas left uncited.
• Summarizing sources instead of synthesizing them — the task wants you to connect evidence to your intervention, not narrate each article.
• Waiting until the end to book instructor time, then having no room for a revision cycle before a term deadline.

Your D219 Readiness Checklist

• Can you complete your CITI human-subjects training and locate the certificate to submit?
• Can you write a focused PICO(T) question from a specific nursing practice problem?
• Can you explain the Johns Hopkins PET process in your own words?
• Can you tell research evidence from non-research evidence and assign a level to each?
• Can you search PubMed or CINAHL and pull sources that genuinely match your question?
• Can you cite and reference every source correctly in APA 7th edition?
• Can you synthesize your evidence into a clear recommendation rather than summarizing article by article?
• Have you scheduled instructor feedback with enough time left for at least one revision?

D219 FAQ

Is D219 an objective exam or a performance assessment?

It is a performance assessment. You complete graded EBP modules and submit a written task rather than sitting a multiple-choice exam, so preparation means producing polished, well-cited work.

What evidence-based practice model does D219 use?

The course is built around the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice (JHNEBP) model and its PET process — Practice question, Evidence, and Translation. Learning that framework first makes the writing task far easier.

Do I really need the CITI training?

Yes. CITI human-subjects protection training is a required component tied to the research-ethics portion of the course. Complete it early so it never blocks your final submission.

How long does D219 usually take?

Many students report finishing in a few focused weeks, though it runs longer if scholarly writing or APA formatting is rusty for you. Budget time for at least one evaluator revision cycle rather than assuming a single submission.

What trips students up the most?

A vague or unanswerable PICO question and APA citation errors are the most common reasons a task comes back. Validating your question with an instructor and citing sources carefully as you go prevents most rework.

How does D219 connect to the rest of my nursing program?

The appraisal and scholarly-writing skills carry into later courses and any field experience, such as C854 Nursing Informatics Field Experience and D160 Nursing Leadership and Management Field Experience. Nutrition-focused work like D440 Health and Wellness Through Nutritional Science also benefits from the same evidence-reading habits.

Ready to keep planning your term? Browse the full library of WGU course study guides to map out what comes next.