Post Master’s Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate
Purpose
The graduate post-master’s Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) certificate encompasses three (3) unique courses (15 credit hours) pertinent only to the FNP program. These courses contain the content and clinical hours necessary to meet national educational standards for graduate-level, advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) education and nationally recognized core role and populations-focused FNP standards and competencies. These graduate specialty courses are NURS 6347 Nurse Practitioner Role (45 clinical hours), NURS 6612 Family Nurse Practitioner I (224 clinical hours), and NURS 6613 Family Nurse Practitioner II (336 clinical hours).
Admission Requirements
To be admitted to the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner graduate certificate, prospective candidates must first meet all requirements for graduate admission to UT Rio Grande Valley, as well as the other requirements listed below:
- A Master’s or doctoral degree in nursing from a Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredited program in nursing. .
- An Advanced Health Assessment course equivalent to UTRGV SON NURS 6305: Advanced Health Assessment within the last 3 years*
- An Advanced Pharmacology course equivalent to UTRGV SON NURS 6306: Advanced Pharmacology within the last 3 years*
- An Advanced Pathophysiology course equivalent to UTRGV SON NURS 6304: Advanced Pathophysiology within the last 3 years*
- A current unencumbered license to practice as a Registered Nurse (RN) in the State of Texas and in good standing.
- A grade point average of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale.
- An official transcript form all colleges and universities attended.
- Three (3) letters of professional recommendations.
- A written statement of purpose (letter of intent).
- A current resume/curriculum vitae.
- A cleared criminal background check.
- Evidence of current immunizations required by the Texas Department of Health for students in health-related academic programs
Application for admission must be submitted prior to the published deadline. The application is available at www.utrgv.edu/gradapply.
*The Graduate Admission, Progression and Graduation Committee requires that the applicant submit course syllabus to determine equivalency to UTRGV Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) FNP course. MSN-prepared Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) certified as adult nurse practitioners, women’s health nurse practitioners, pediatric nurse practitioners or acute care nurse practitioners may have these courses waived from the admission requirements after applications s have been assessed by this committee.
Program Requirements
Required Courses (15 Credits)
Prerequisite Credit Hours and Prerequisite Courses:
NURS 6304: Advanced Pathophysiology – or its equivalent (3 credit hours)
NURS 6305: Advanced Physical Assessment – or its equivalent (including laboratory component and clinical practice hours) (3 credit hours)
NURS 6306: Advanced Pharmacology – or its equivalent (3 credit hours)
Conditional Criteria:
A student who does not have advanced pathophysiology, advanced physical assessment and advanced pharmacology may be accepted under conditional criteria. This criterion includes testing out of these courses by successfully passing with a grade of 800 on the APRN HESI Advanced Pharmacology, APRN HESI Advanced Pathophysiology, and APRN HESI Advanced Assessment. If the student takes any one of these exams and does not make a satisfactory score, the student will be required to take the course in which they did not score satisfactory prior to going into the Post Master’s FNP Certificate courses. These courses may include one, two or all three of the prerequisite courses.
A student whose graduate degree (MSN) does not meet the national accreditation standard such as American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials of Master’s Education as a Family Nurse Practitioner certificate graduate may require additional coursework based on individual transcript and gap analysis.
Total Credit Hours: 15