Master of Science in Nursing
Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP)
The Acute Care Nurse Practitioner graduate acquires knowledge and experience to provide direct health care services from late adolescents to adults across the life span for the purposes of health promotion and protection, disease prevention, and the management of common acute and chronic illnesses. The acute care nurse practitioner can work in a variety of clinical settings such as acute care hospitals, long term care facilities, physician offices, urgent care centers, and ambulatory care centers and can treat late adolescents through the lifespan. There are a total of 45 credit hours in the specialty with 705 clinical hours.
A graduate of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program is prepared to:
- Synthesize knowledge from nursing theories, the humanities, and evidence-based scientific clinical guidelines to guide assessment of health status of adults.
- Demonstrate advanced practice clinical decision making, utilizing critical thinking, to interpret patient and diagnostic test data and formulate differential diagnoses and a plan of care for adults.
- Design, implement, evaluate, revise, and interpret a mutually agreed upon management plan and therapeutic interventions with adult patients and families.
- Advocate for patients and families to provide cost-effective, culturally competent, ethical, quality care in and across health care settings.
- Model responsibility for continued professional development, integrity, accountability, competence, and credentialing as an acute care nurse practitioner.
| Curriculum Acute Care Nurse Practitioner | ||
| Core Courses | ||
| N601 Roles for Advanced Nursing Practice | 1 credit hours | |
| N602 Evidenced Based Practice for Advanced Nursing | 4 credit hours | |
| N603 Theoretical Foundations for Advanced Nursing Practice | 3 credit hours | |
| N604 Population Based Care and Health Policy | 3 credit hours | |
| N605 Healthcare Informatics for Advanced Nursing Practice | 3 credit hours | |
| N606 Nursing Leadership in Health Systems | 4 credit hours | |
| Total Core Hours | 18 credit hours | |
| Clinical Core Courses | ||
| N617 Advanced Concepts of Pathophysiology | 3 credit hours | |
| N618 Advanced Health Assessment | 3 credit hours | |
| N622 Clinical Pharmacology for Advanced Nursing Practice | 3 credit hours | |
| Total Clinical Hours | 9 credit hours | |
| Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Specialty Courses | ||
| N674 Management of Acutely Ill Adults I | 6 credit hours | |
| N675 Management of Acutely Ill Adults II | 6 credit hours | |
| N676 Management of Acutely Ill Adults Practicum | 6 credit hours | |
| Total Specialty Hours | 18 credit hours | |
| Total Program Hours | 45 credit hours | |
