Program Overview

Graduate Certificate: Family Nurse Practitioner

The Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) track is designed to prepare professional nurses for the FNP role in primary care nursing. The curriculum features theoretically based and clinically focused courses. FNP graduates are eligible to take the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) certification exam or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioner (AANP) certification exam corresponding to their population foci upon graduation.

Requirements

• The curriculum includes 780 contact hours for clinical practice.
• Courses must be evaluated for equivalency on admission.
• A grade of B or higher is required in advanced pathophysiology, advanced physical assessment, and advanced pharmacology.
• Students who have not completed any of these 3 courses will be admitted and required to complete them prior to beginning the clinically focused courses.

Course List

Curriculum

Plan of Study Grid

• First Term:
  • NURS 6540 | Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Care of Adults | 3
  • NURS 6550 | Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Care of Adults: Practicum 1 | 4
  • Hours | 7
• Second Term:
  • NURS 6560 | Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Care of Families | 3
  • NURS 6570 | Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Care of Families: Practicum 2 | 4
  • Hours | 7
• Third Term:
  • NURS 6580 | Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Care of Older Adults | 2
  • NURS 6590 | Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Care of Older Adults: Practicum 3 | 5
  • Hours | 7
• Total Hours | 21

Admission Criteria

Transcripts must indicate completion at the graduate level of advanced pathophysiology, advanced pharmacology, and advanced health assessment with a grade of B or higher in each course.

Learning Outcomes

• PLO 1. Synthesize knowledge derived from a scientific foundation in order to demonstrate expertise in advanced clinical nursing practice to improve delivery of care.
• PLO 2. Demonstrate continuous quality improvement in patient care situations while providing leadership in clinical decision making through use of information systems and technology for the improvement and transformation of health care.
• PLO 3. Use clinical scholarship and analytical methods to implement safe, quality improvement in administration of patient care.
• PLO 4. Encourage interprofessional collaboration and teamwork to enhance and improve population health outcomes.
• PLO 5. Engage in influencing the development and implementation of health policy that provides an interface between practice, research, and policy development.
• PLO 6. This should not be a separate program assessment plan. The program is subsumed in either the MSN or DNP APRN programs.