POST-MASTER'S FNP PROGRAM

In 1995, UC Irvine admitted the first class of post master’s family nurse practitioner students. All students admitted have completed a master’s program in nursing or a related field and hold a California nursing license. The program is an intensive 15-month program that prepares the nurse to provide primary health care to adults and children.

The post master’s curriculum:

1. Builds on the knowledge and competencies of graduate students. It provides for the attainment of advanced knowledge using evidence-based practice as the model for advanced clinical practice.
2. Provides for role development and relevant theoretical and applied learning experiences that incorporate leadership, management, and patient education.
3. Provides integrated clinical learning opportunities with guided practice experiences. Through these experiences, students have the opportunity to apply health-related theories and research, further enhancing their ability to identify and pursue a philosophy of evidenced-based practice and generate clinical inquiry.

Through these experiences, the students have the opportunity to apply health-related theories and research, further enhancing their ability to identify and pursue a philosophy of evidence-based practice and generate clinical inquiry.

Upon completion of advanced practice education as a nurse practitioner, the graduate will have recognized expertise in primary care and will possess the following competencies:

1. Obtains and accurately documents a relevant health history for patients of all ages and in all phases of the individual and family life cycle.
2. Performs and accurately documents appropriate comprehensive or symptom-focused physical examinations on patients of all ages. This includes developmental and behavioral screening and physical system evaluations.
3. Orders, performs, and interprets age-, gender-, and condition-specific diagnostic tests and screening procedures.
4. Formulates comprehensive differential diagnoses while considering epidemiology, environmental and community characteristics, and life stage development, including the presentation seen with increasing age, family, and behavioral risk factors.
5. Provides health protection, health promotion, and disease prevention interventions and/or treatment strategies to improve or maintain optimum health for all family members.
6. Treats common acute and chronic physical and mental illnesses and common injuries in people of all ages to minimize the development of complications, and promote function and quality of living.

Being housed in a publicly supported institution, the UC Irvine FNP certificate program is committed to serve our community through training health care professionals whose background reflect Orange County and the State of California’s ethnic and cultural diversity and whose professional careers address our health care needs. The program thus works toward improving the accessibility and availability of quality primary health care services to those in need in California.

Certification

Upon completion of the program students are eligible for a certificate by the State of California as a Nurse Practitioner and are required to take the national certifying examination of the American Nurses Association or American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. For information about credentialing, contact:

• American Nurses Association Credentialing Center
• American Academy of Nurse Practitioner Certification Program at certification@aanp.org