Family Nurse Pracitioner
Program Description
The Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Program is designed to prepare nurses to deliver primary health care to families in a variety of settings. Students follow patients through the life cycle utilizing obstetric, pediatric, gynecologic, as well as adult and geriatric primary care diagnostic and management skills.
The scope of practice of the family nurse practitioner is based on a team approach. An interdependent member of the health team, the FNP provides primary care through the following means:
- Documentation of individual and family health history
- Physical assessment
- Diagnostic, therapeutic, and educational care plans
- Collaboration with physicians and other health care professionals
- Referral to appropriate health care providers
- Coordination of health care
Graduates are eligible to take the certifying examination offered by the American Nurses Association and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Graduates find positions in a variety of settings such as outpatient clinics, community health centers, private practice offices, health departments, homeless shelters, chronic care facilities, schools, day care programs, hospices, homes, and acute care settings.
The Program Director for the Family Nurse Practitioner specialty is Elizabeth Hall, DNP, MSN, CFNP/CGNP.
Admission
Please contact the Office of Admissions for details regarding admission and financial aid packages. Faculty review applications on a rolling admission basis so that students may apply throughout the year. Please note, applications for the Family NP Program can only be submitted online.
Admission criteria include:
- Current New York State nursing license or eligibility
- Bachelor’s degree in nursing from an NLN or CCNE accredited program
- Minimum of one year experience in relevant area preferred
- Satisfactory score on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
- An undergraduate course in statistics
- A physical assessment course
- Three references attesting to applicant’s academic ability and potential
- Personal goal statement that is congruent with program goals (two pages, double-spaced, 12 pt. font)
- Resume or Curriculum Vitae
*RN's with an associate degree and a non-nursing baccalaureate degree are required to complete 5 credits in community health in addition to the course requirement listed
Curriculum
| Core | Credits |
| Health and Social Policy: Context for Practice and Research | 4 |
| Assessing Clinical Evidence | 4 |
| Interpersonal Violence & Abuse | 1 |
| Management in Advanced Practice | 1 |
| 10 | |
| Sciences | |
| Advanced Physiology | 3 |
| Pathophysiology of the Adult | 3 |
| Advanced Pharmacology | 3 |
| Incorporating Genetics into Advanced Nursing Practice | 3 |
| 12 | |
| Specialty | |
| Family Primary Care Nursing I | 2 |
| Advanced Clinical Assessment | 3 |
| Advanced Assessment Practicum | 2 |
| Diagnosis and Management of Illness: Family I | 4 |
| Family Primary Care Nursing II | 1 |
| Family Primary Care Practicum I | 4 |
| Diagnosis and Management of Illness: Family II | 3 |
| Family Primary Care Nursing III | 1 |
| Advanced Practicum in Family Primary Care | 4 |
| Family Theory | 3 |
| 27 | |
| Total Credits | 49 |
School of Nursing
The School of Nursing has paved the way for professional nursing since 1892 and continues to lead the field as the foremost institution for advanced practice nursing.
The School of Nursing is a designated World Health Organization Collaborating Center for International Nursing Development in Advanced Practice. With urban clinical sites, expert faculty practitioners, cutting edge research, and the strength of the Columbia name and reputation, the School of Nursing produces graduates who possess the skills necessary to bring advanced practice nursing into the new millennium. As medical advances offer a cascade of new and useful therapies, the need for more health care providers will increase exponentially. Our country will face many health care challenges in the next 20 years, and nurse practitioners are essential to providing access to quality primary care.
Founded in 1892 as Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, the School became part of Columbia University in 1937 and began offering the baccalaureate degree. It is one of the oldest schools of nursing in the US. In 1956, it became the first nursing program in the country to award a master’s degree in a clinical nursing specialty. In 1999, the School granted its first doctoral degree. More than 9,000 nurses have graduated since the School opened.
The School shares the Columbia University Health Sciences Campus with the Mailman School of Public Health, the School of Dental and Oral Surgery, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Each of these schools adds to the richness and diversity of the educational experience of students and faculty.
School of Nursing faculty have substantial experience in curriculum, instructional design, and research. They maintain expertise in their areas of teaching responsibility through participation at local, regional, and national conferences, involvement in scholarly presentations and publications, and faculty practice.
Columbia University School of Nursing is distinguished by the clinical excellence of its programs and graduates. Columbia nurses are making crucial contributions and improving the health of individuals wherever they practice.
The above information is current as of 6/07 and is subject to change at any time.