11: School of Graduate Nursing

General Information | M.S. in Nursing | Ph.D. in Nursing | Course Descriptions | Faculty

Philosophy | Characteristics of Graduates | Admission | Academic Regulations
Program Description | Clinical Nurse Specialist | Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
Acute Care Nurse Practitioner | Health System Management | M.S.N.-M.B.A. Joint Degree
Post-Master's Primary Care Nurse Practitioner | Post-Master's Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
Admission | Grades | Nurse Practitioner Program Completion Requirements

Post-Master's Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program

The Post-Master's Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program is designed to provide the master's-prepared nurse with the necessary skills and knowledge to assume the role of a primary health care provider in various clinical facilities. The necessary nursing and medical skills include: psychosocial and physical assessment through health history and physical examination; identification, screening and triage of acute minor illness; nursing and medical management of commonly encountered acute, minor, and chronic illnesses in collaboration and consultation with a physician; knowledge of community needs and resources available for health promotion; health teaching, guidance, and counseling of clients and their families about illness and its prevention; and health promotion, maintenance, and management.

Other areas explored in the nurse practitioner program include the changing health care delivery system, the expanded role of the nurse, and nursing issues, particularly as they relate to nurse practitioner practice, reimbursement, and prescriptive authority.

An essential part of the nurse practitioner program is the 672-hour clinical preceptorship. This preceptorship is concurrent with the nurse practitioner seminar courses, and is arranged at a clinical site that reflects the focus of the primary care nurse practitioner program. Due to the program's focus on rural, underserved populations, at least one of the three preceptorships takes place outside of Albemarle County.

The practitioner program is approved by the Joint Committee of the Boards of Nursing and Medicine in Virginia. Graduates are eligible to apply for practitioner certification by this Joint Committee, and are also eligible to sit for National Certification Examinations.

Continue to: Post-Master's Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Clinical Track
Return to: Chapter 11 Index