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Family Health Nurse Practitioner Program

Family Health NPs promote health across all age groups. Following national guidelines, FNPs provide and coordinate primary health care services of the highest quality. Penn's FNP program, begun in 1975, is among the oldest NP master's degree program in the United States. We are unique in having large numbers of students with international experience. Every FNP faculty member is currently in practice. Our clinical preceptors include FNPs and family physicians in the inner city and suburbs. Opportunities exist for students to work with patients speaking languages other than English.

The Family Health NP program offers full-time, part-time, post-master's, and BSN/MSN study. The full time program is 16 months in length, beginning each September, and continuing through the year to the following December. Course work includes graduate research and sciences, 2 electives, and 8 clinical courses that must be taken in sequence.

Graduates are eligible to become certified by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as Family Health Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners (CRNP) and are eligible for prescriptive authority. Successful completion of the program also qualifies graduates to apply for national certification from the American Nurses' Credentialing Center (ANCC).