D.N.P. Specialist Certificate in Adult Gerontology-Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (Online)

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Program Director

Andrea Wall

Due to their unique skill sets, Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioners (AG-ACNP) may work in various settings. Hospital inpatient units are the most common space of practice, though they frequently work in intensive care, acute care, and trauma units of tertiary care facilities. Increasingly, they care for patients in specialty clinics and long-term care facilities.

The DNP Specialist Certificate in AG-ACNP online program prepares individuals who are already licensed advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) with the skills and competencies needed to provide patient-centered care to adult and geriatric acute care patients. The purpose of the program is to expand the scope of practice of APRN’s and broaden career opportunities.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

Develop new practice approaches based on nursing theory and theories borrowed from other disciplines to improve health and reduce health disparities locally, nationally, and globally.
Employ strategic leadership skills and inter-professional collaboration to influence health policy, advocate for social justice, and promote equity locally, nationally, and globally.
Implement ethical, cost-effective, and evidence-based changes in care systems, while advancing the profession.
Provide leadership at the highest levels to design, direct and evaluate system changes to deliver and promote patient-centered care that is culturally competent, safe, timely, effective, efficient, and equitable.
Engage in complex, evidence-based advanced nursing practice, and evaluate innovative approaches to care delivery for individuals, communities, and populations.

Admissions

The program will build on the existing curriculum of the current AG-ACNP, adapting it for APRNs with an existing foundational knowledge in a different scope of practice. To be eligible for consideration, admission requirements include:

Hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in the United States or the equivalent from an international college or university.
Maintain a current, active, unrestricted registered nurse (RN) license in the state in which they will do clinical rotations.
Earned either a:
- Master of Science degree in Nursing from a CCNE or ACEN accredited program or
- a doctoral or PhD degree

Other admission requirements include:

Evidence of at least two years of strong professional nursing experience.
Evidence of national certification in advanced practice nursing specialty.
Evidence of Advanced Practice licensure.

Transcripts from the APRN graduate program must show successful completion of courses in Advanced Pathophysiology, Advanced Pharmacology, and Advanced Assessment. All students will be required to show evidence of a 3.0 GPA or higher. Students will also submit a background check, drug screen, and immunization records to permit clinical rotations in health facilities.

Curriculum Requirements

Total: 18 hours

Advising

The Graduate program advisor will be responsible for all student advising and will approve all course enrollments. The program plan is set and deviations will not be permitted to ensure efficiency of faculty and university resources.

Students will be required to complete 600 hours of clinical experience for this program. The program director will work with the student to identify and assign a preceptor who will mentor the student during the clinical experiences. The clinical placement will be determined before the start date of the first courses in the program.