Program Description:
The Pediatric Nurse Practitioner specialty is designed to prepare advanced practice nurses to provide care for children from birth to 21 years. Since 1965, PNPs have worked with pediatricians and other health care providers to provide comprehensive care to children and families by focusing on health maintenance and education, illness prevention, and minor and chronic illness management.
This concentration provides a broad theoretical and research foundation in advanced concepts of parent, child and adolescent nursing. Clinical experiences occur across a variety of settings and focus on providing care to well and ill children. PNPs are qualified to perform complete physical exams, take health histories, diagnose and treat common acute minor illnesses or injuries, order and interpret lab results and x-rays, manage stable chronic illness, counsel clients and provide health education. Many may prescribe medications according to state law.
Course work aligned with clinical experiences specific to specialization focus provides the knowledge, skills, and values inherent in the development of clinical excellence as a pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP). Students have course assignments and clinical experiences specific to the primary care area. PNP students are precepted by pediatricians or NPs with clinical experiences in a variety of primary care settings. The program consists of advanced clinical practice and nursing science, built on a core of pathophysiology, pharmacology, and family-centered care. The total program is 49 semester hours.
Primary care PNPs offer a variety of services including:
- Provide health maintenance care for children, including well-child examinations
- Perform routine developmental screenings
- Diagnose and treat common childhood illnesses
- Provide anticipatory guidance regarding common child health concerns
- Provide childhood immunizations
- Perform school physicals
- Primary care PNPs may practice in a variety of outpatient pediatric specialty areas, such as cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology, and many others.
Visit the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners website for more information (http://www.napnap.org)
Graduates of the PNP concentration are eligible to apply for the national certification exam administered by either ANCC or PNCB.
National certification is necessary to obtain advanced practice licensure in most states.
Admission Requirements:
Due Date: March 1 and July 15
Program Start: Summer Semester and Fall Semester
Application to Wright State University's School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences is a two-step process.
STEP 1:
Apply to the Wright State University Graduate School
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:
The documents listed below should be uploaded directly to your Graduate School online application. Please do not send these materials to the School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences.
- Graduate School application (online)
- Transcripts from all colleges/universities attended
- Resume/curriculum vitae
- Meaningful clinical experience essay (2 pages maximum)
- Statement of professional goals (250 words maximum)
- Provide name and email address of two references for letters of recommendation
- Current or most recent supervisor
- Faculty member from your nursing program or previous employer
When the Graduate School application is complete, notification will automatically be sent to the School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences, and we will communicate our application requirements.
Step 2
Apply to the School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:
- School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences application
- BCII and FBI background check results
The School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences will provide instructions on how to complete the above steps once we receive notification of the completed Graduate School application. All School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences required documents should be sent directly to the School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences.
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
- Be a bachelor's prepared nurse, having earned a BSN in nursing from an accredited institution.
- Have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale for your baccalaureate degree and any subsequent graduate work
- Have an unencumbered nursing license.
- Have a minimum of two years full-time nursing experience in pediatrics, critical care (OR PRIMARY) preferred.
- Provide evidence of no criminal record on file through a clear BCI/FBI background screen.
- International students
- Must provide proof of English proficiency by achieving at least the minimum score in one of the following:
- TOEFL IBT: 79
- IELTS: 6.0
- Pearson PTE: 57
- LEAP: 4
- Degree: Earned in the United States
- Must have an unencumbered United States nursing license.
PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES
The graduate will be able to:
1.Examine scientific findings from nursing, biopsychosocial fields, genetics, public health, quality improvement, and organizational sciences for the continual improvement of nursing care across diverse settings.
2.Demonstrate leadership skills necessary for ethical and critical decision making, effective working relationships, and a systems-perspective to promote high quality and safe patient care.
3.Apply quality principles within an organization and articulate the methods, tools, performance measures, and standards related to quality.
4.Apply evidence-based outcomes within the practice setting, resolving practice problems, working as a change agent, and disseminating results.
5.Use communication strategies and patient-care technologies to integrate, coordinate, deliver and enhance care.
6.Examine the policy development process and advocacy strategies necessary to intervene at the system level to influence health and health care.
7.Use communication strategies necessary for interprofessional collaboration and consultation to manage and coordinate care.
8.Integrate broad, organizational, client-centered, and culturally appropriate concepts in the planning, delivery, management, and evaluation of evidence-based clinical prevention and population care and services to individuals, families, and aggregates/identified populations.
9. Demonstrate advanced level of understanding of nursing and relevant sciences as well as the ability to integrate this knowledge into practice including both direct and indirect care components that influence healthcare outcomes for individuals, populations, or systems.
For additional information:
School of Nursing, Kinesiology, and Health Sciences
