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University of Wyoming

MS Nurse Practitioner Options (FNP & PMHNP)
 

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Please explore the bulleted listing below to learn more about the FNP Program:

What Family Nurse Practitioner (FNPs) Do

Family nurse practitioners (FNPs) serve as primary care providers for individuals and their families, across the lifespan, in both illness and health. According to the ANA's American Nurses Credentialing Center, "A family nurse practitioner is a registered nurse with a graduate degree in nursing who is prepared for advanced practice with individuals and families throughout the lifespan and across the health continuum. This practice includes independent and interdependent decision-making and direct accountability for clinical judgment. Graduate preparation expands the comprehensiveness of the family nurse practitioner role to include participation in and use of research, development and implementation of health policy, leadership, education, case management, and consultation." FNPs have advanced practice knowledge and clinical skills in many aspects of primary care, including providing family-planning services; well-child care; obtaining health histories and performing physical examinations; diagnosing, treating and monitoring acute and chronic illness; ordering, performing and interpreting diagnostic studies; prescribing medications and other treatments, promoting health lifestyles. 

What is the Focus of the FNP Program?

The family nurse practitioner (FNP) program has been in existence for more than 25 years and prepares advanced practice nurses to provide primary health care to diverse individuals and their families in a variety of settings, especially rural settings. The focus of the program is on rural, community-based, cutting edge primary health care for individuals and families across the lifespan. Critical thinking, clinical reasoning and analysis of clinical research and theory are strong threads throughout the program. Issues of health promotion and disease prevention are emphasized. Graduates are prepared to diagnose and treat common acute problems, such as infections and injuries, and common chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and hypertension. Moreover, the program focuses on preparing self reflective practitioners who are lifelong learners and continue to grow professionally.

The program leads to a Master of Science (MS) degree. Course work includes graduate core courses taken with all students in the nursing graduate program. These courses are on-line and focus on application of theory and research to practice, rural health care, organization and delivery of health care services, health care economics and legal and ethical issues in health care. In addition, students take advanced practice nursing core courses, such as advanced pathophysiology and pharmacology. These advanced practice core courses are also on-line. Finally, the FNP specialty courses focus on health promotion and the treatment of acute and chronic illnesses. The specialty courses are web-enhanced with on-campus time required each semester. Clinical experiences are arranged individually in a variety of primary care settings. 

What are the Expected Competencies for Graduates of the Family Nurse Practitioner Program?

  1. Apply advanced assessment skills in holistic evaluation of well and ill individuals and families across the lifespan
  2. Demonstrate advanced clinical reasoning skills, including systematic data collection, differential diagnosis, analysis, synthesis and interpretation of various forms of data, and prioritization of care.
  3. Provide health protection, health promotion and disease prevention/treatment strategies to improve or maintain optimum health for individuals and families.
  4. Treat common acute and chronic physical and mental illnesses and injuries with appropriate pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapy for individuals and families to promote function, quality of life and peaceful death.
  5. Demonstrate teaching and coaching skills to facilitate health promotion, maintenance, restoration and palliation for individuals and families.
  6. Provide integrated primary care by facilitating transitions between health care settings and continuity of care for individuals and families through timely and appropriate consultation with other health care professionals and community organizations
  7. Maintain sustaining client-centered partnerships that foster individual and family decision-making about health.
  8. Provide culturally competent care with respect to cultural and spiritual needs and by making health care resources available to persons with diverse cultures, including rural cultures.
  9. Evaluate the quality and impact of care delivered as an individual and in collaboration with other providers.
  10. Analyze and apply research, theory and practice guidelines from nursing and related disciplines to improve health outcomes of individuals and their families.
  11. Interpret the purpose and roles of family nurse practitioners (FNP) to professional colleagues and consumers.
  12. Use population-based strategies to assess health of populations or subpopulations, advocate for health system change and/or to plan and implement community health programs.
  13. Use basic business, management and financial strategies for managing clinical practice.
  14. Practice with personal integrity, adhere to advanced nursing practice standards and demonstrate professional ethical and legal behavior.
  15. Assume responsibility for continued professional growth and development, and for identifying, analyzing and incorporating into practice new developments and knowledge relevant to the NP.

What Clinical Experiences Will You Have?

Entering family nurse practitioner students begin clinical course work with "Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Decision Making." This includes advanced assessment techniques, scientific and diagnostic reasoning, and interviewing techniques that lead to clinical decision making. This is followed by courses in health promotion and disease prevention, primary care, nursing therapeutics, and pharmacotherapy for primary care providers.

Clinical assignments are part of each semester's course work if you are a full-time FNP student (part-time students take many of graduate core and advanced practice core courses during their first year and start the FNP specialty courses and clinical experiences in their 2nd year). You will be working with nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, physician's assistants and/or physicians in your clinical experiences. Settings have included private physician or nurse practitioner clinics, public health clinics, family practice residency centers, migrant clinics, family planning centers and Indian Health Service clinics. When feasible, clinical placements are arranged as close to your home as possible. However, you should be prepared to travel (and possibly relocate) for some practicum experiences. Clinical experiences are arranged for students in Wyoming and north central Colorado

Starting in Fall of 2005, 60 hours of clinical will be added to NURS 5006, the first FNP course that students take. In addition, you can expect approximately 120 hours of clinical placement time during the other 3 semesters of the program. The final practicum includes an intensive practicum of 360 hours during the summer. You will have a minimum of 780 hours of clinical practice in the program.

What Can You Expect When You Graduate?

Our graduates work in a variety of settings including physician offices, public health clinics, independent nurse practitioner practices, indigent clinics, emergency rooms, Indian Health Services, correctional facilities, and migrant clinics. 

Our program is accredited by the CCNE.  In addition, it meets the nurse practitioner program evaluation guidelines of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF).  Graduates of the program are eligible to take the certification exams offered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).

Updated 5/19/2008

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