Nurse Practitioner
The Nurse Practitioner program is designed to advance registered nurses in the practice of comprehensive primary care within varied clinical settings. The program provides learning experiences in acute and chronic illnesses for the mastery of knowledge, skills and attitudes in the clinical management of individuals and families. The graduate level competencies are inclusive of the Quality and Safety Education For Nurses (QSEN) principles to integrate patient centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice (EBP), quality improvement (QI), safety and informatics in advanced nursing practice.
The program is aligned with the best practices proposed by the Institute of Medicine to improve access, quality and innovation for the delivery of health care services. Practice guidelines will lead the student to the clinical management of individuals and families across the life span. The study is inclusive of medicine, surgery, maternity, pediatrics, gerontology, mental health, orthopedics and more. The community based approach is emphasized to improve health care delivery to under-served and vulnerable populations. For these reasons, the clinical experiences vary in outpatient clinics, community health centers, private offices, health departments, social service agencies, shelters, long term care facilities, school health sites, home health, hospices and acute care settings.
The nurse practitioner program entails 42 credits with 540 clinical hours. The clinical experiences provide a basis to integrate nursing science, research and health care delivery models for the clinical management of individuals and families. The student is guided in leadership, critical thinking and evidence based practice to demonstrate competency in formulating clinical decisions for positive patient outcomes. The program requires the completion of a capstone project to demonstrate the feasibility and sustainability of improving health care delivery. Upon completion of the program, students will be awarded a Master of Science degree.
