Nurse Practitioner Programs

As advanced practice nurses, nurse practitioners hold a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree with a specialty in a particular area. Typically, MSN programs build on undergraduate nursing studies, and most have the following prerequisites:

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)
• A registered nursing (RN) license
• A minimum GPA and minimum scores on the GRE
• A certain amount of clinical experience

If you do not already have a BSN, you will find nurse practitioner programs designed for students with an associate's degree and, as mentioned above, non-nurses who hold a bachelor's degree in another field. These programs allow qualifying candidates to earn their BSN and MSN at an accelerated pace.

Nurse practitioners have no shortage of specialty areas. While family nursing remains the most popular, according to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), NPs can choose from a variety of specialty and sub-specialty areas.

NP Specialties:

• Acute Care Nursing
• Community / Public Health Nursing
• Family Nursing
• Geriatric Nursing
• Home Health Nursing
• Neonatal Nursing
• Oncology Nursing
• Pediatric Nursing
• Psychiatric Nursing
• Women's Health Nursing

NP Sub-Specialties:

• Allergy and Immunology Nursing
• Cardiovascular Nursing
• Dermatology Nursing
• Occupational Health Nursing
• Orthopedic Nursing
• Respiratory Nursing

Most NP programs take two years to complete. You can expect your NP studies to involve a high concentration of courses in your specialty area, as well as a certain amount of core subjects relevant to advanced practice nursing, such as the following topics:

• Nursing theory
• Health policy
• Finance and business management within the health care system
• Ethics
• Health promotion and disease prevention

^{Sources:
AANP.org; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011; American Nurses Credentialing Center.}