Master of Science In Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner Major

The content for the Family Nurse Practitioner curriculum focuses on the knowledge and skills required to educate nurses to provide primary health care to clients and families across the lifespan. The Primary Care core courses include primary care didactic (theory) courses, practice-focused clinical courses, and an intensive preceptorship experience.

The curriculum builds upon knowledge and competencies of baccalaureate education and integrates into the Primary Care core courses knowledge and competencies gleaned in graduate core courses required for all advanced practice nurses. The MS degree with a specialization as a Family Nurse Practitioner curriculum has three major components: the Common Core segment, the Advanced Practice Core segment, and the Primary Care Specialty Core segment.

Full time and part-time study are available. For part-time study, students must complete the Common Core courses (Theories, Health Care Professionalism, and Health Care Research) and some of the Advanced Practice and Specialty Core courses, Pharmacology, Advanced Physiology, (Health Promotion, Advanced Pathophysiology, and Applied Drug Therapy) before enrolling in Advanced Health Assessment. Advanced Health Assessment is the gateway course into the Family Nurse Practitioner specialty courses. Once a student begins the assessment course, it is necessary to proceed directly through the Primary Care courses and Research Project to graduation. This ensures that the national certifying exam will be taken as close to the clinical courses as possible.

Summary of Course Requirements