As the US population ages, more healthcare providers are needed across many disciplines. You might be interested in becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner, an Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP), or a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP).
Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) provide a wide range of primary, preventive, and acute healthcare services to individuals of all ages. Additionally, FNPs diagnose and treat many acute and chronic health problems and prescribe and manage medications.
Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioners provide a wide range of critically ill/acute and chronic disease management to adult and geriatric individuals in a variety of healthcare settings.
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner鈥檚 provide psychiatric disease management and advanced psychotherapy techniques in diverse mental healthcare settings.
You might be interested in becoming a nurse practitioner but aren鈥檛 sure about all the alphabet soup of FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP, APRN, or MSN. Let鈥檚 break it down.
We鈥檒l start with APRN. APRN is the credential = Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (just like the credential after graduating with the BSN & passing NCLEX is RN). Keep in mind there are two certifying bodies for the credential. If you see an FNP with the 鈥淎PRN, FNP-C鈥� credential, they are credentialed by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. If you see an FNP with the 鈥淎PRN, FNP-BC鈥� credential, they are credentialed by the America Nurses Credentialing Center.
Next, FNP is the specialty = Family Nurse Practitioner. So, a person who is an FNP is also an APRN. Another example would be the APRN credential + the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner specialty or Adult Nurse Practitioner or Women鈥檚 Health Nurse Practitioner.
Last, MSN is the degree. Here鈥檚 where it gets tricky: you can become a nurse practitioner with a DNP degree or an MSN degree depending on the school and what they offer. Some schools only offer NP specialties at the doctoral level. Some schools offer NP specialties at the master鈥檚 level. At Bellarmine, all nurse practitioner specialties are currently at the MSN level.
Most FNP programs require applicants to be a registered nurse with a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree.
If you鈥檙e interested in any of Bellarmine鈥檚 online nurse practitioner programs, are a registered nurse with a BSN, you can get more info here
If you鈥檙e interested in Bellarmine鈥檚 MSN programs, but aren鈥檛 already a registered nurse with a BSN, you might consider our Accelerated Second-Degree BSN. It鈥檚 specifically designed for folks with a previous non-nursing bachelor鈥檚 degree. You can change careers in just 12-months. You can get more info here.
If you鈥檙e a high school student with a goal of becoming a nurse practitioner, you鈥檒l want to get more info about our undergraduate BSN program here.
Our undergraduate nursing program is one of the top private nursing schools in the nation according to Nursing Schools Almanac. Our graduates consistently score above the state and national averages on the NCLEX, launching them successfully into their nursing career upon graduation.