Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program
ACNP Program Overview
The ACNP Program evolved from one of the first in the United States to prepare acute care nurse practitioners for the management of patients with specialized health care needs. Students develop expertise in physical assessment, complex clinical decision making, diagnostic and interventional procedures, prescriptive knowledge, and patient care management across the continuum of acute care services, from critical care to discharge and facilitation of the patient’s transition to the community.
The program offers a broad preparation in the management of acutely and critically ill patients with additional opportunities to concentrate on populations of special interest. With a strong emphasis on research and evidence-based practice, students follow a curriculum that includes theoretical content and guided clinical experiences that emphasize holistic patient care and a collaborative, interprofessional team approach. For their practicum experiences, students are paired with acute care nurse practitioners, physicians or collaborative teams.
Areas of Concentration
Students can choose from a variety of clinical experiences such as Oncology, Trauma, General Surgery, Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Transplant, Nephrology and many others. Sites are chosen based on availability of experiences and student preferences. Faculty guidance for optimum preparation is provided.
Students may complete minors in a variety of clinically related areas such as Oncology, Palliative Care, Forensic Science, Women's Health and others. Those interested in finding out more about these opportunities can click on the Academic Programs page and scroll to the bottom. Click on the link to find out more specifics about the minor that interests you.
Certification Eligibility
Graduates are eligible to apply for national certification from the American Nurses' Credentialing Center (ANCC) or the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). Upon successful completion of the exam candidates are eligible to become certified or licensed to practice.
Dual Preparation as an ACNP and CNS
If you are interested in dually preparing for both the Adult ACNP and Adult Health CNS roles, you may enroll in both the ACNP and CNS Programs. Completing this plan of study will broadly prepare you as an advanced practice nurse in both NP and CNS roles. A number of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses are dually prepared so they can meet the multifaceted needs of our patients and so they can be more marketable in our healthcare system.
Upon completion of the CNS program, you will also be eligible to sit for either the American Association of Critical Care Nurses CCNS (Critical Care CNS) or the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) Adult Health CNS examination in addition to the Acute Care nurse practitioner exam.
Post Master's Certificate Option
If you have a MSN in another area of nursing and wish to become an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner you can apply to the Post Master's Option of the ACNP program. If admitted a gap analysis will be conducted. This requires students to submit syllabi from previously completed coursework that may be transferrable to the ACNP curriculum. If coursework is comparable, you will not be required to retake it. Once the gap analysis is completed a final plan of study will be developed. There is a fee associated with obtaining an official gap analysis.
There are many options available to you and we work with you to customize the Program to fit your needs. Please contact us anytime.