Utica College will soon begin offering an online master of science in nursing (MSN) family nurse practitioner (FNP) program. The online program incorporates a research-based curriculum with practicums taught by expert faculty. The FNP program is designed for registered nurses who have at least 2,000 hours of work experience and meet other admission requirements. It includes a mandatory two-day immersion on the Utica campus, as well as clinical practicum hours at an approved facility.
Upon completing this program, family nurse practitioners are prepared to provide advanced healthcare, diagnose and treat patients, conduct scientific research, and establish healthcare programs that better the community. Faculty members have abundant teaching experience and many collective years working in the healthcare industry. Graduates of this online FNP program are prepared for national certification through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners National Certification Board (AANP).
The Utica College Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner Program
The Utica College online family nurse practitioner program consists of 48 credits including 720 clinical practicum hours. This program is offered full-time (20 months) or part-time (32 months). Students have up to six years to complete the program. Prerequisites to the FNP program include a three-credit statistics course and a bachelor’s-level health assessment course with a grade of B or higher.
The program encompasses 17 core credits and 31 FNP-specific credits. Core courses include quality improvement and safety in health care, organizational leadership and role development of the advanced practice nurse; epidemiology and population health; nursing research and evidence based practice; health policy and advocacy; and statistical analysis and scholarly inquiry.
FNP-specific courses include advanced pharmacology I and II; advanced pathophysiology; advanced health assessment and diagnostic reasoning I and II; health promotion and primary care I, II and III; and an NP culminating seminar.
Also included is a two-day immersion experience at the Utica campus — located in Utica, New York — which provides students with hands-on experiences in CXR interpretation, gender examinations, taking comprehensive histories and doing physical exams, suturing, and orthopedic splinting, among other topics. Finally, students must complete a 720-hour practicum experience at an approved site, which students plan with the school’s coordination team during the immersion experience.
Applicants to the program must be registered nurses with an unencumbered license with 2,000 hours work experience and a BSN with a 3.0 or greater GPA. No GRE is required. Interested professionals should contact the admissions department of Utica College for details about the start date of the program. At this time, Utica College is only able to offer the MSN family nurse practitioner online degree to residents of Vermont and Massachusetts.
