School of Nursing

Family Nurse Practitioner

Family Nurse Practitioner Students

Our D.N.P. Family Nurse Practitioner program features: 

  • Small class size supported by practicing clinician faculty.
  • State-of-the-art clinical simulation and innovative teaching.
  • Coursework that prepares practice-ready graduates.
  • All clinical placements and preceptors are arranged for you. 
  • 100% certification exam first-time pass rates. 
  • Distance option for communities across Oregon.

The Family Nurse Practitioner specialty

Nurse practitioners (NPs) are integral to today’s health care system. NPs provide high-quality, cost-effective care that results in high patient satisfaction. Nurse practitioners practice in all 50 states and have become recognized and respected health care community members. Increasingly, people are choosing nurse practitioners as their regular healthcare providers. Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) work in various settings, including hospitals, clinics, private practices, independent nurse practitioner practices, and nursing schools.

In Oregon, FNPs deliver critically essential services, especially to rural and medically underserved populations. FNPs apply advanced knowledge and clinical skills in many facets of health care: providing prenatal care and family-planning services; providing well-child care; obtaining medical histories and performing physical examinations; diagnosing, treating and monitoring acute and chronic conditions; ordering, performing, and interpreting diagnostic studies. In Oregon, FNPs practice autonomously, bill independently for their services, and have prescriptive rights.

The FNP D.N.P. program includes a combination of advanced practice core, FNP specialty courses and D.N.P. core courses. The D.N.P. degree prepares students for entry into practice as an FNP, with competency in clinical scholarship and leadership. Graduates of the FNP program are eligible to take the national certification examination of the American Nurses Credentialing Center or the American Academy of Nurses.

What you will study and learn

The program emphasizes care that is interdisciplinary, collaborative, and culturally appropriate. In addition to content with a focus on all age groups, the program of study also provides you with in-depth knowledge and clinical experiences in such areas as advanced health and physical assessment, advanced pharmacology and pathophysiology, health promotion, acute and chronic illness management, role development as a primary care, clinician, and reproductive and prenatal care. This course work combines 1000 hours of clinical practicum experiences in which students will build and strengthen their skills as an FNP. The D.N.P. students will gain additional clinical experience in the clinical practicum intensive during the third year of the D.N.P. program.

Accelerated Bachelor to FNP pathway

The School of Nursing also offers an Accelerated Bachelor’s program to the Family Nurse Practitioner program. This accelerated option allows students to pre-identify their graduate area of interest and enroll seamlessly into the FNP program directly after completing the undergraduate nursing degree to achieve the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. This option is offered at the Portland and Ashland campuses. Students who complete the accelerated bachelor’s degree on the Ashland campus will continue in the FNP program as part of the regional cohort.

D.N.P. student learning outcomes (applies to all Post-Master’s D.N.P. and all APRN specialties)

  1. Demonstrate readiness to enter clinical practice via specialty competencies with the appropriate scientific knowledge, and considerations for its application to practice.
  2. Apply ethical principles along with the standards of professional conduct to clinical care, research, and education.
  3. Evaluate emerging healthcare systems and policy that influence delivery of cost effective patient care.
  4. Generate entry level practice scholarship through the completion of a clinical practice improvement project based on the principles of improvement science.
  5. Model interprofessional communication and collaboration to improve individual and/or population health outcomes.
  6. Identify and address gaps in professional knowledge through ongoing reflection to support the principle of life-long learning.

Family Nurse Practitioner student learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate critical thinking with diagnostic, management and reasoning skills in the process of clinical decision-making within the scope of FNP practice
  2. Demonstrate professional behaviors in oral and written forms and establish collaborative relationships  
  3. Assess and intervene to promote wellness and prevent disease
  4. Integrate contextual variables in assessment and provision of care
Course Catalog

For all program specifics, Student Learning Outcomes and detailed school information, check out the School of Nursing Catalog/Student Handbook.

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Scholarships available

OHSU offers a variety of scholarships that can help fund your education.

Gainful employment disclosure

Federal regulations require disclosure of certain information for graduate certificate programs that the U.S. Department of Education defines as "gainful employment" programs. Learn more about the U.S. Department of Standard Occupational Classification and O*Net Occupations classification. Gainful Employment Disclosure