FNP PROGRAM INFORMATION

Mission

The mission of the College of Health Science, Program in Nursing Sciences, Family Nurse Practitioner program is to prepare advanced practice registered nurses who can provide primary health care. The mission will be achieved through programs of excellence in:

• Education: The Family Nurse Practitioner Program is committed to providing the highest quality educational programs to its graduate students. The program emphasizes current knowledge in the health sciences and reflects the changing practice of nursing. The educational programs are designed to stimulate self-education and critical reasoning, and to promulgate values necessary to fulfill the professional commitments of a career in nursing.
• Research: Through promoting evidence-based practice, the program is committed to integrating research into clinical decision-making and advanced nursing practice.
• Clinical Care: A clinically-oriented, preceptor-based program, the Family Nurse Practitioner Program emphasizes a team approach to health care. It focuses on underserved populations in the community while emphasizing health promotion and disease prevention. A primary function is to provide high quality primary care.
• Service to the Public: Housed in a publicly supported institution, the program is committed to serving the community by training health professionals whose backgrounds reflect state ethnic and cultural diversity and whose professional careers address statewide health care needs. The program works toward improving the accessibility and availability of quality primary health care to those in need in California through service-in-learning activities.

Philosophy

The Family Nurse Practitioner Program is designed to provide students with a foundation on which to practice and to continue to develop as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Advanced practice in nursing is grounded in theory and research using a solid evidence base for practice. Nursing theory, research, and practice are interrelated. Evidence-based practice develops as both theory and practical knowledge are applied, refined, and extended in practice situations.

Faculty Expectations

All faculty members have active clinical practices and are master’s or doctoral-prepared primary care Nurse Practitioners who are nationally certified. All faculty members have input into curriculum revisions, participate in peer review of their colleagues, and participate in clinical preceptorship of students within their practice, when possible.