Nurse Practitioner Training Courses

Here is a sample list of courses from a typical NP training program:

Health Care Policy

The U.S. health care system involves many stakeholders, from patients to health care providers to politicians. Courses in health care policy generally introduce NP students to key features of our health care delivery system, cover financial and political aspects of the health care debate, and teach concepts that prepare nurses to critically evaluate and analyze policy issues.

Advanced Concepts in Pharmacology

Building on a nurse's experience and prior training, advanced pharmacology courses prepare future NPs for rendering proper pharmacological treatment in practice. Concepts taught include drug interactions, side effects and prescription guidelines for commonly used drugs.

Health Care Ethics

Health care ethics courses introduce nursing students to ethical and bioethical issues that health care providers face in practice. Different approaches for identifying and analyzing ethical problems are discussed, and students gain familiarity with legal and ethical considerations, patient-provider relationships, and concepts related to moral judgment.

Theory and Practice in Your Specialty

Your nurse practitioner training program will involve several advanced courses in your particular focus area. In general, you can expect your school to take a tiered approach to teaching your discipline, starting with classes that discuss theory and practice in your specialty and moving into more in-depth training related to the population or health condition relevant to your degree.

Clinical Practicum

Nurse practitioner training programs require that you spend a certain number of clinical hours treating actual patients. Each state has different requirements for the number of clinical experience hours nurses must gain prior to qualifying for licensure, so be sure to research your state's board of nursing requirements to ensure that your NP training program provides the right number of clinical hours.

In addition to standard MSN programs, many nursing schools offer RN-to-MSN programs, a direct-entry MSN option for non-nurses who hold a bachelor's degree in another field, and post-master's certificates for nurses who want to demonstrate their expertise in a particular nursing field.

Designed to make advanced practice nursing education more broadly accessible, these programs give nursing students the chance to earn their credentials in a condensed period of time.

Whatever direction you plan to take your NP career, you can rest assured that that the right nurse practitioner training program is available for you. Learn more about nurse practitioner careers and specialties. Then start your search for the nurse practitioner school that matches your career goals.

^{Sources:
Azusa Pacific University; Georgetown University; President and Fellows of Harvard College; Howard University.}