MSN Nurse Practitioner Options

Ways to Study

  • Hybrid

Apply Now | MSN Nurse Practitioner Options

Application deadlines for Fall 2024:

    • August 10, 2023: NursingCAS Application Opens
    • November 15, 2023: NursingCAS Application Deadline
    • November 28, 2023: Supplemental Application* Deadline
    • Program begins: August 2024

*A link to the UNC Supplemental Application will be sent to you by email within a few business days of submitting your completed NursingCAS application.

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Advanced Practice Areas

Explore below the Nurse Practitioner Advanced Practice Areas (APAs) available for study at Carolina. You will receive upon matriculation an up-to-date plan of study to sign with your faculty advisor. The plan of study you receive upon matriculation supersedes any information below.

Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner +

The Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP) option prepares students to provide care for patients age 13 to the end of life. The program requires course content in research, professional and clinical cores, and the advanced practice area with a selected focus. Graduates will be skilled in implementing and evaluating interventions across adult health care settings as well as throughout the trajectories of illness. Nurses are educated for practice that is evidence-based, collaborative, and reflective of an understanding of current health care delivery, as well as, economic, ethical, and professional issues.

Students complete five clinical courses which include a core course in advanced diagnostic reasoning, three clinical courses that emphasize management of common adult health problems and one course that emphasizes the management of complex adult health problems related to a focus area of choice.

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

ONCOLOGY FOCUS

The School of Nursing offers courses leading to a specialty focus in Oncology. Applicants are admitted to the AGPCNP advanced practice area and complete an additional four credits of coursework focused in Oncology. Students who elect this option receive advanced knowledge and skills in both the prevention and management in the care of adults at risk for, or with, cancer.

Graduates who complete additional clinical hours in oncology after graduation may also qualify to sit for the Advanced Oncology Certified Nurse Practitioner (Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation) exam.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Family Nurse Practitioner +

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

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner – Primary Care +

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

Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner +

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

Contact Admissions

nursing@unc.edu
919.966.4260

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