MSN Nurse Practitioner Options

Ranked 10th in nation, our Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) specialty prepares students as advanced practice nurses for community-oriented primary care. Graduates provide comprehensive health promotion services to ambulatory clients; evaluate presenting problems at the client’s initial contact with the primary care system; and provide continuing care to clients with acute and stable chronic illnesses.

Themes emphasized throughout the primary care courses include: epidemiology; holism and caring; family and community systems; appropriate use of technology; cost effectiveness; collaboration; consultation and the referral process; and the research base for primary care practice.

FNP students with an interest in community-oriented primary care or global health have opportunities to focus their study in areas of special interest such as vulnerable populations or health disparities through clinical placements, elective courses, and the Master’s Paper. Students are encouraged to talk with their advisors about their interests in special areas for developing an individualized plan of study.

Graduates are eligible to sit for the American Nurses’ Association (ANCC) or American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) certification examination for the Family Nurse Practitioner.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Lead Faculty: Leslie Sharpe, DNP, FNP-BC
• MSN Course List
• Suggested Plan of Study

The Pediatric Nurse Practitioner-Primary Care option prepares advanced practice nurses to provide care for children from birth to 21 years. The curriculum is designed to prepare nurses to provide comprehensive care to children and families by focusing on health maintenance and education, illness prevention and minor and chronic illness management.

Students are prepared to provide care that is evidence-based, collaborative, and reflective of an understanding of current health care delivery, as well as, economic, ethical, and professional issues. A student’s plan of study may be individualized to the student’s interests and needs through clinical placements, papers, presentations, and elective courses.

Graduates are eligible to take the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB) examination for the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner-Primary Care.

This BSN to MSN is a hybrid program, with 40–49% offered online or hybrid (integration of face-to-face and online learning). As of January 1, 2030, all CPNP-PC candidates must have graduated within five years from their PNP program that met the exam eligibility criteria.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Lead Faculty: Amanda Brinson, DNP, MSN, RN, CPNP
• MSN Course List
• Suggested Plan of Study

The Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) option prepares students to be clinically competent and culturally sensitive advanced practice registered nurses. PMHNPs assess, facilitate and manage the psychiatric and mental health care needs of individuals, families, groups and communities in a variety of public, private, community, inpatient, and team-based, multidisciplinary practice settings.

The PMHNP specialty curriculum embraces a lifespan perspective in psychiatric mental health diagnostic reasoning, psychopharmacology, individual, group and family psychotherapies and management of complex psychiatric illnesses.

An emphasis on the interaction and integration of common mental and physical health problems gives the student an evidence-based framework for comprehensive psychiatric-mental health care. The emphasis on cultural sensitivity challenges students’ assumptions and value judgments, and promotes critical analysis of how racial and cultural biases in psychiatric diagnosis have led to disparities in care.

Clinical sites are selected to meet course objectives and individual student learning needs. The PMHNP option promotes and encourages students to complete their clinical hours in their own communities and/or regions of the state of North Carolina and beyond, depending upon their learning objectives, interests and scholarship.

Precepted clinical experiences include psychiatric assessment and comprehensive evaluations, documentation according to federal and state requirements, implementation of individual, family and group therapy, and medication initiation and management. Graduates are able to assume an expanded scope of practice including prescriptive authority and collaborative management of health problems across the lifespan.

Graduates are eligible to take the American Nurses’ Association (ANCC)  board certification examination for the Psychiatric-Mental Health NP (Across the Lifespan)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Lead Faculty: Grace Hubbard, DNP, PMHCNS-BC
• MSN Course List
• Suggested Plan of Study