South University is no longer enrolling students in the Post Graduate Certificate in Family Nurse Practitioner or Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Programs.

Note: Not all Online Program offerings are available to residents of all U.S. states. Please contact an admissions representative for further information.

Program Description

The Post Graduate Certificate in Family Nurse Practitioner is a 42-credit hour program designed for individuals who hold a master’s degree in nursing that has prepared them for practice in another advanced role or in an advanced nursing specialty. The certificate program provides students the knowledge and decision making skills to provide direct advanced practice nursing health care services to individuals across the life span.

Post-master’s students must successfully complete graduate didactic and clinical requirements of the master’s specialization and are expected to master the same outcome competencies as master’s students pursuing an MSN with a specialization in Family Nurse Practitioner, including the master’s core competencies and the specialization competencies.

Courses may be waived if the individual’s master’s transcript indicates that s/he has successfully completed the required course or its equivalent. Waivers and exceptions will be determined for individual students through a gap analysis as determined by the Program Director or College Dean.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

Graduates should be able to:

1. Synthesize theories and concepts from nursing and other disciplines for application in advanced nursing roles.
2. Analyze current scientific research for application of findings to initiate change and to improve practice.
3. Create comprehensive plans of action that address the health promotion and disease prevention needs of individual, family, and community populations.
4. Formulate a plan for ongoing contributions to improvement of healthcare delivery and development of health policy in a cost-effective manner.
5. Apply an ethical decision-making process in professional practice and an analysis of systems of healthcare.
6. Model a professional leadership role that fosters improvement of healthcare and advocates scholarly activities to advance self and profession.
7. Employ informatics and technology in various aspects of the advanced nursing leadership role.
8. Practice within ethical-legal guidelines, professional policies and regulations, and standards of practice associated with a specialty area of advanced nursing practice.

Specialized Program Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Integrate specialty standards of advanced practice nursing to deliver culturally competent, quality health care services to individuals, families, populations and systems.
2. Exercise effective leadership, critical thinking and communication skills in the development and implementation of advanced nursing practice services in Primary Care.
3. Integrate professional nursing standards, values and accountability into role and self-development as an advanced practice nurse.
4. Utilize information technology and an evidence-based research approach development of nursing knowledge and design of health care services for clients, populations and systems.
5. Ensure advanced levels of clinical judgment, systems thinking, and accountability in the implementation and evaluation of evidenced based care to diverse individuals and populations.