Dr. Sharon Simon, Assistant Professor, Director Family Nurse Practitioner Program
ICPH Site, 540-542-6233, ssimon@su.edu

The School of Nursing offers an Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Certificate for RNs who already hold a Master of Science in Nursing degree. The FNP Certificate is designed to provide the nurse with the necessary knowledge, skills, values, meanings and experiences to assume the role of a primary health care provider in a variety of clinical settings. Didactic and clinical course content focus on assessment and management of health promotion and maintenance strategies, risk reduction, common acute and chronic alterations in health status for individuals and families across the lifespan and role development. Clinical experiences are in a wide variety of ambulatory and community rural and medically underserved health care settings appropriate to the family nurse practitioner track.

The FNP Certificate is designed to meet the needs of the MSN-prepared RN with the philosophy that post graduate students are highly motivated adult learners who learn independently as well as in structured settings. Course work can be completed in 15 months of full-time study with summer admission. Clinical experiences are arranged with individual preceptors in surrounding communities. Approximately 600 clock hours are spent in faculty or preceptor-supervised settings. Graduates of the FNP Certificate program are eligible to take the national certification exam given by either the American Nurses Credentialing Center or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

Prerequisites, in addition to the MSN, include three credits of advanced pathophysiology, three credits of advanced pharmacology, and four credits of an advanced physical assessment course. All courses must be at the 500 level or above.

Graduates of the FNP program will be able to:

• Evaluate and apply evidence-based research and clinical guidelines to improve the quality of clinical practice across the lifespan.
• Integrate technology for communication and clinical decision making to support and improve patient outcomes
• Analyze ethical, cultural, legal and social factors that influence access, equity, quality and cost effectiveness of health care.
• Utilize advanced leadership principles to generate collaborative change to prove access, quality and cost-effective health care.
• Demonstrate independent advanced practice nursing by critically analyzing data and integrating knowledge for the provision of health care for patients throughout their lifespan.
• Contribute to and collaborate in the development of advanced nursing practice through evidence-based practice, leadership, policy and education.