Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between Adult Acute Care NPs and Adult Health NPs?

Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioners care for acutely. critically and complex chonically ill or injured patients throughout the continuum of care. Patients can be newly diagnosed or have acute exacerbations of chronic illnesses. Adult Health Nurse Practitioners work in more community-based settings promoting health, preventing illness and managing patients with chronic diseases.  There is an area of overlap between the care provided by Adult Health NPs and ACNPs.  In these cases, primary care and acute care providers work together to meet the needs of their patients.

Am I more marketable as a Family NP than as an Acute Care NP?

With the passage of the Health Care Reform Act there has been much talk about how there is a tremendous need for primary care providers, especially FNPs.  This is true.  However, we anticipate that the patients who will be accessing care as a result of Health Care reform will have more acute and complex needs than anticipated.  The care that Acute Care NPs provide will be in as great of demand as that of our primary care colleagues.

Do Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioners work only in hospitals?

Acute Care Nurse Practitioners manage the care of acutely, critically or complex chronically ill patients where ever they are located.  That can be in critical care, stepdown/telemetry or med/surg units in hospitals, but can also be in specialty care offices (such as a Cardiology or Vascular Surgery office), long-term acute care hospitals, sub acute settings, ventilator dependent units and clinics such as those who care for Heart Failure patients or those requiring Coumadin management.  Acute Care Nurse Practitioners are also finding employment in less traditional areas such as on Palliative Care teams, Pain Management teams, Transitional Care teams, in E-ICU's and in home care settings.

What type of clinical experiences can I have?

We take special care to individualize your clinical experiences with your professional goals in mind. With your input, we determine how to best prepare you to meet the challenges of managing a particular cadre of patients.

Do I have to find my own preceptors?

No, we have an extensive list of nurse practitioners and physicians who have experience precepting our students. We work with you to determine the types of clinical experiences you are looking for and consider personalities, types of practices and geographical location. However, if you know of someone who would be a good preceptor, we are more than willing to contact them to determine if they are able to precept you.

Can I concentrate in one area of acute care or can I stay broad with my experiences?

You can do either. All of the course work prepares you to provide care to the full spectrum of acute care illness. However, in the clinical portion, some students prefer to concentrate in a particular area such as cardiology, neurosurgery, oncology or trauma, while others want a more broad clinical experience. Again, we will work with you to create clinical practica that provide you the best preparation for your professional goals. 

Can I work and go to school?

That depends on a lot of factors, such as whether you are going full-time or part-time, what your timeline is for finishing the program, what your study habits are and many others. Most of our full-time students have found it difficult to work any more than a per-diem job, where the schedule can be very flexible. However, most of our part-time students work either full or part-time.

What happens after I apply?

As soon as your application is complete, someone from the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program will contact you to set up an interview date. Once that interview is completed, your application will be reviewed at the next Admissions Committee meeting.  After that meeting you will be notified regarding the admission decision. Once admitted, you will be asked to decide on whether you are going to accept your admission, make a deposit and return a signed copy of the plan of study provided you.  Shortly after you accept your admission, you'll receive registration materials.

If I start part-time and want to go full-time or vice versa, can I do that?

Yes. You can meet with an advisor from the program to determine how your plan of study will change. Any change to your plan of study MUST be approved by a program advisor before the change can be made.