Program Details

The Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Certificate program is available to advanced practice DNP or PhD prepared nurses. Your plan of study is individualized based on your previous graduate work. This program is a hybrid of online and on-campus courses; it is not an all-online program. There are several courses you will take in an online format; others, offered in various terms throughout the program, are only offered on campus. 

Program length

Part-time certificate students can complete the program in three to five terms. Start term and completion time will vary depending on the course work you took in your master’s or doctoral APRN program. When you start your clinical practicum, you will need to commit two to three days to school each week. During your full-time residency, students work with their faculty advisor to set up a residency that will allow them to meet their goals.

Clinical experiences

You need at least six months of acute care experience to be eligible to apply to the program. In addition, you will need two years of acute-care full-time experience before starting clinical and management course rotations in your last year.

There is a total of 504 direct care clinical hours in the program. You will work closely with your advisor to establish your individual professional goals and objectives for clinical experiences. You will also work collaboratively with faculty to arrange clinical experiences.

Clinical experiences occur in a wide variety of settings, with a focus on managing a caseload of acutely or critically ill patients. Practicum sites include the following:

• Acute inpatient hospital units and specialty clinics
• General and specialty intensive care units
• Emergency departments
• Subacute care institutions
• Specialty acute care practices, such as cardiology, neurosurgery and bone marrow transplant

All of the course work prepares you to provide care to the full spectrum of acute care illness. When you get to the clinical rotations, some students prefer to concentrate in a particular area such as cardiology, neurosurgery or trauma, while others want a more broad clinical experience. We will work with you to create clinical experiences that provide you the best preparation for your professional goals.

Certification

After completing the program, you will be eligible for certification as an Adult-Gerontological Acute Care Nurse Practitioner by the American Nurses Credentialing Center of the American Nurses Association and for state licensure and certification where available.

Common Applicant Questions for all Nursing Programs