Family Nurse Practitioner
Our DNP 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 arranged for you.
- 100% certification exam first-time pass rates.
- Distance option for communities across Oregon.
The Family Nurse Practitioner specialty
Nurse practitioners are an integral part of today’s healthcare system. NP’s provide high quality, cost-effective care that results in a high level of patient satisfaction. Nurse practitioners practice in all 50 states and have become recognized and respected members of the healthcare community. Increasingly, people are choosing nurse practitioners as their regular healthcare providers. Family Nurse Practitioners work in a variety of settings including hospitals, clinics, private practices, independent nurse practitioner practices, and schools of nursing.
In Oregon, Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) deliver critically important services especially to rural and medically underserved populations. Family Nurse Practitioners 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 DNP program includes a combination of advanced practice core, FNP specialty courses and DNP core courses. The DNP 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: advance 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 is combined with 1000 hours of clinical practicum experiences in which students will build and strengthen their skills as an FNP. The DNP students will gain additional clinical experience in the clinical practicum intensive during the third year of the DNP program.
Accelerated Bachelor to FNP
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.
DNP student learning outcomes (applies to all Post-Master’s DNP and all APRN specialties)
- Demonstrate readiness to enter clinical practice via specialty competencies with the appropriate scientific knowledge, and considerations for its application to practice.
- Apply ethical principles along with the standards of professional conduct to clinical care, research, and education.
- Evaluate emerging healthcare systems and policy that influence delivery of cost effective patient care.
- Generate entry level practice scholarship through the completion of a clinical practice improvement project based on the principles of improvement science.
- Model interprofessional communication and collaboration to improve individual and/or population health outcomes.
- Identify and address gaps in professional knowledge through ongoing reflection to support the principle of life-long learning.
Family Nurse Practitioner student learning outcomes
- Demonstrate critical thinking with diagnostic, management and reasoning skills in the process of clinical decision-making within the scope of FNP practice
- Demonstrate professional behaviors in oral and written forms and establish collaborative relationships
- Assess and intervene to promote wellness and prevent disease
- Integrate contextual variables in assessment and provision of care
For all program specifics, Student Learning Outcomes and detailed school information, check out the School of Nursing Catalog/Student Handbook.
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Gainful employment disclosure
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