Family Nurse Practitioner

Family Nurse Practitioner with patient

Designed for nurses with a bachelor of science in nursing degree to elevate their role to an advanced practice nurse, our M.S. program offers 100% online coursework with two campus visits that will sharpen your ability to assess patients, order and interpret tests, establish diagnoses and manage treatment plans. Then use that knowledge to provide family-focused acute, chronic and preventive care to patients across the lifespan on along-term basis.

Program type: Master's Degree Format: Online Est. time to complete: 8 semesters (part-time) Credit hours: 49

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Why earn your Family Nurse Practitioner (M.S.) degree at UND?

Application Deadlines Fall: July 1 Sprng: Nov. 1

In our online M.S. program, you'll learn to provide patient-focused primary care to individuals and families from childhood to adulthood, spending clinical time in both primary and specialty care settings.

Our faculty will prepare you to develop care expertise revolving around the family unit, which means you understand different conditions at every age — because how illness impacts an 18-year-old patient can vary considerably compared to a patient experiencing the same illness at age 80.

As a family nurse practitioner. you’ll have the knowledge to treat each patient accordingly and counsel them about wellness and prevention, providing treatment for everything from mild ailments to serious conditions. In this role you’ll impact more than one patient at a time — you’ll influence the behavior and lifestyle choices of all members of the family.

While in the online Family Nurse Practitioner program at UND you'll focus your studies on:

By the time you get to graduation you'll be able to:

Online Family Nurse Practitioner (M.S.) at UND

What can you do with a Family Nurse Practitioner (M.S.) degree?

Projected job growth for advanced practice registered nurses (much faster than the avg of all occupations)

Average annual salary for Nurse Practitioners

Patients of all ages require convenient medical care, and they seek someone they can trust who can regularly provide it. As a family nurse practitioner, you could be your community’s main point of contact for all health-related questions and concerns.

Some F.N.P.s work in mobile clinics where they provide health education and screenings on the road because it allows them to better serve low-income and rural populations who have poor access to health care. Other settings where family nurse practitioners provide care to patients include:

Family Nurse Practitioner Online Courses

Family Centered Advanced Practice Nursing

NURS 532. Family Centered Advanced Practice Nursing. 3 Credits.

Theoretical and scientific foundations for advanced practice nursing care for the family-as-a-unit in health and illness across the lifespan. Prerequisite: Admission to graduate nursing or permission of the instructor. F,S,SS.

Management of Health Conditions in Primary Care

NURS 534. Management of Health Conditions in Primary Care I. 3 Credits.

This is the first of a two-course sequence that focuses on evidenced-based primary care diagnosis and management of common episodic/chronic problems encountered by adults, including young adults, middle aged adults and older adults and their social network in ambulatory, inpatient, and community settings. Physiological, psychosocial, and pharmacological interventions are integrated into the holistic care that incorporates age-related, cultural, family, and community variations. Prerequisite: Admission to graduate study, NURS 522 and NURS 585. Corequisite: NURS 597 (II). F,S,SS.

Pharmacotherapeutics for Primary Care

NURS 544. Pharmacotherapeutics for Primary Care. 2 Credits.

This course will help prepare the advance practice nursing student for prescriptive authority. Topics will focus on decision making regarding the pharmacological management of common acute and chronic illnesses encountered in primary care settings. Pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, adverse drug reactions, and contraindications will be discussed. Ethical and legal principles of writing prescriptions will also be covered. Students will synthesize research findings related to various medications using case study and discussion. Prerequisite: Admission to graduate nursing and NURS 505, or consent of the instructor. F,S,SS.

Role Development of the NP

NURS 553. Role Development of the Nurse Practitioner. 2 Credits.

This course emphasizes professional role development of the nurse practitioner. Students will compare and contrast the various roles of the nurse practitioner and evaluate those roles as they relate to the student's individual planned area of practice. The multi-dimensional role of the nurse practitioner as a clinician, advocate, educator and member of the health care team is explored from a historical and current perspective. Prerequisite: Admission to graduate study. F,S,SS.

Maternal and Child Health in Primary Care

NURS 559. Maternal and Child Health in Primary Care. 2 Credits.

This course focuses on advanced practice nursing care of obstetric and pediatric clients within a primary care setting. Health promotion, health protection, and disease prevention are emphasized. Prerequisite: NURS 522, NURS 523 and NURS 585, or consent of the instructor. Prerequisite or Corequisite: It is strongly recommended that students complete or are currently taking Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), PALS, and Advanced Trauma (ATLS). F,S,SS.

Advanced Clinical Practicum

NURS 597. Advanced Clinical Practicum: FNP. 1-4 Credits.

This clinical practicum course provides the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) student with the opportunity to obtain advanced practice clinical experience in their area of specialization. The course focuses on the integration of theoretical knowledge into clinical practice and gaining increasing competency in the skills integral to the nurse practitioner role. Prerequisite: Admission to FNP track & NURS 505, NURS 544, NURS 559, NURS 585; successful completion of NURS 534 & NURS 597 FNP (I) to proceed to 2nd clinical; successful completion of NURS 540 & NURS 597 FNP (II) to proceed to 3rd clinical. Repeatable to 12.00 credits. S/U grading. F,S,SS.

Online Family Nurse Practitioner Degree

best online graduate programs

best online college in North Dakota

UND is a top choice for an online Master's of Nursing Practice degree for flexibility and affordability. We’ve designed the online Family Nurse Practitioner degree to incorporate 100% coursework, clinical experiences and two campus visits.

During your campus visits you'll meet others in your cohort while learning higher level techniques related to suturing, joint injection simulation, and developing treatment plans among other topics.

Flexible Online M.S. Courses

You will be able to earn the majority of your degree attending classes asynchronously, however at times there will be occasional synchronous (live) meetings for information sharing and student presentations.

With asynchronous classes, you do not attend class at a set time. If you need to balance work, family, and other commitments, this flexible format allows you to learn anywhere at any time.

Depending on your instructor, you’ll learn online through:

There will be times when you interact with your instructor and classmates through online discussion boards, polls, and chat rooms.

Your learning revolves around materials that can be accessed on your own time within a set time frame. However, this is not a self-paced course. You’ll have structure and deadlines.

Campus Visit

While the majority of your courses are offered online, you’ll come to campus to complete portions of the program. Here, you’ll extend and apply the knowledge you’ve learned online through hands-on activities. Our students find tremendous value in having the opportunity to personally interact with their instructors and fellow students.

Top-Tier Online M.S. Program

Over a third of UND's student population is exclusively online; plus, more take a combination of online and on campus classes. You can feel reassured knowing you won't be alone in your online learning journey and you'll have resources and services tailored to your needs.

No matter how you customize your online experience, you’ll get the same top-quality education as any other on campus student.

Best Online College

Our high alumni salaries and job placement rates, with affordable online tuition rates make UND a best-value university for online education. UND's breadth of online programs rivals all other nonprofit universities in the Upper Midwest making UND one of the best online schools in the region.

UND ranks among the best online colleges in the nation for: