ACNP Program Structure and Clinical Questions

Hekate · Sep 28, 2008

ok, sorry about that...wayne state university (http://wayne.edu) graduate and very proud of it just so you know. great program in my opinion and a very "real world" kind of experience with a moderate amount of fluff. currently, i am precepting a university of michigan-ann arbor acnp student. their program is different in that clinicals are spread out in two 120 hour semesters and a final 400+ hour semester. also they have 2 semesters of advanced pharm in addition to a requirement for a master's thesis. pretty rigorous in my opinion. very expensive tuition too. i also didn't realize that madonna university in livonia has an acnp program now - that's a private school run by catholic nuns, that's all i know. one of their acnp students is being precepted by one of the np's in our group. we actually have three students with us this fall, the third one is a wayne state student - yay!

thank you much for your fast answer!

it does look like this program is straight to the point, which i like a lot.

the title of the program is adult acute & critical care nurse practitioner vs acute care nurse practitioner for other universities; do you find that the focus of the program or your role as an np was impacted by this difference ?

although the courses are listed, i couldn't really get a good idea of the length and schedule organization of the program (full time). does one register for the number of courses he/she feels able to handle at a given time, or is it standard?

how long did it take you to complete the program?

last but not least, do you have an idea if the practicum could be done outside the state of mi, or do they require for them to be done within their hospitals/clinics network?

thank you to let me pic your brains, i appreciate your time and advice(s). :up:

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Sep 28, 2008

the title of the program is adult acute & critical care nurse practitioner vs acute care nurse practitioner for other universities; do you find that the focus of the program or your role as an np was impacted by this difference?

the program is basically acnp but students have the option to focus on the critical care nurse practitioner role if this is their goal. those students spent majority of their clinical rotations in critical care. i did not do that. i spread out my clinical rotations to broader specialty fields such as internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, pulmonology, critical care medicine, and emergency medicine. actually, more students did the same as me and only a few focused on critical care for their clinicals.

i don't think the focus of the program had any impact on my current role. i could have worked in a non-critical care specialty. i think the diversity of the roles my batchmates ended up in proved that. i have classmates who now work in cardiovascular medicine, emergency medicine, internal medicine, transplant surgery, hematology-oncology, and critical care medicine. it does seem that many ended up working in cardiology because there is a bigger demand for np's in cardiology in this metro area.

although the courses are listed, i couldn't really get a good idea of the length and schedule organization of the program (full time). does one register for the number of courses he/she feels able to handle at a given time, or is it standard?

the program allows you to register for courses at your own pace. however, courses are only offered on a given semester during each academic year. patho, pharm, and health assessment are only offered in the fall, winter, and combined spring/summer respectively. a student can register for these 3 pre-clinical courses regardless of sequence. for instance, i started the program in the winter and registered for pharm and nursing theory (3 credits each). i took health assessment during the spring/summer semester and patho during the fall semester. these three courses are pre-requisites to the apn or clinical courses and there are also three of them. similarly, each are only offered during a specific semester during the academic year.

how long did it take you to complete the program?

it took me a total of 6 semesters to finish the program. remember, spring and summer are combined into one.

my entire course plan looked like this:

w - pharm and theory (6 credits)

s/s - health assessment (includes int med clinicals for health assessment) (5 credits)

f - patho, research, apn issues (9 credits)

w - cardiopulmonary and renal didactics + clinicals (ed rotation) and statistics (9 credits)

s/s - neuro, ent, endo, and musculoskeletal didactics + clinicals (cardiology, int med rotation) and research project (8 credits)

f - hema-onc, gi, id, and mental health didactics + clinicals (pulm and critical care rotation) (6 credits)

*the school's revised curriculum shows that course on apn issues is split into 2 semester courses with 2 credits each. it was a single 3 credit course when i was in the program. stats and research appears to have been combined into two semesters of 3-credit courses.

i worked part-time during the 2nd year as i had a full time load as you can see. i applied and received an advanced nursing education traineeship award through the school. this is a program by the dept of health and human services offered to msn students across the us. the award paid for my tuition but required that i register for full time credits.

last but not least, do you have an idea if the practicum could be done outside the state of mi, or do they require for them to be done within their hospitals/clinics network?

not only are clinical rotations required to be completed in michigan, i believe it is a requirement that the facilities are within the southeast michigan geographical area only. unfortunately, there is no distance option for this specific program. where in michigan do you live?

and finally, i know you didn't ask but there is a rumor floating around that this school is eventually planning on scrapping the MSN programs and only offering a bsn to dnp program for all their np tracks. don't wait until that happens because that would really suck.

Hekate · Sep 30, 2008

Wow! I can feel that you like to teach.I really appreciate you sharing your experience in such detail, it is really helpful, thank you !

I currently live in Auburn Hills and work in Flint...although i am about to go back to working in Detroit at HFH.

My concern at this point is to find a program that is "portable" because my husband is potentially going to relocate to Florida next june.Nothing is written in stone, and it might be another location, however, relocation is going to happen regardless.

I don't want to wait to see where we will end up, especially since the applications are due now for next spring/fall enrollment and I want to start ASAP.

A shame I didn't figure out what i wanted to do 2 years ago or Wayne State University would have been just perfect. I like the possibility to focus on Critical care...

If they offered the practicum out of state, I would have been happy to complete the classes here, and the clinicals wherever we will end up going to.

I guess it brings me back to an online program...too bad!

Thanks again for sharing your experience, and should you have any suggestion to make about my situation, I would be pleased to hear about it/them.

Have a great day!

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Sep 30, 2008

You're welcome...Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital eh? let's just say the chance of us meeting in person is not slim at all.

JDCitizen · Oct 11, 2008

Anyone that has been there done that (Acute care NP)... How was your program structured and what did you do (course work as well a clinical wise)... Thanks in advance!

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Oct 11, 2008

This was the response I gave to another poster with a similar question:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f34/acnp-msn-programs-313187-2.html#post3140900

Let me know if you have other specific questions.

JDCitizen · Oct 11, 2008

This was the response I gave to another poster with a similar question:
https://allnurses.com/forums/f34/acnp-msn-programs-313187-2.html#post3140900
Let me know if you have other specific questions.

Right-on! That is the type of information I wanted..

Six semesters that's a solid two years?

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Oct 11, 2008

Six semesters that's a solid two years?

Yes, when done with full time courseload like I did.

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 11, 2008

Threads merged for continuity.

DaisyRN, ACNP · Oct 11, 2008

anyone that has been there done that (acute care np)... how was your program structured and what did you do (course work as well a clinical wise)... thanks in advance!

i went to utmb-galveston... started may 06, grad dec 07. this is not usual... below is the "usual plan" of 2 years. my acnp program starts the practicum specific to being an acnp every january, only. it is a 44-credit, one year program. i'll describe it in more depth below.

my program was set up where most people get accepted to the acnp program (must have 2 years acute care rn exp) to start in spring. during the spring and summer, they take the core (mostly online) msn classes, including theory, adv patho, health policy, pharm, research, and end with adv health assmt (not online, was one a week)which is the first counted "clinical" course. you don't really "go" to a clinical site, but because we were assessing each other and practicing on one another, it counts as clinical. this is taken in the fall to prepare you for starting your first practicum course in january. there are a total of 4 acnp practicum courses and then one professional role class mixed in that everybody has to take. each practicum had mandatory clinical rotations of 168 hours and the didactic focused on different body systems. the clinical requirements below are as i did them and i indicated the ones that were required my my program. i don't remember exactly the breakdown of the body systems per semester, but this will give you an idea:

spring: gnrs 5623 acute care nurse practitioner concepts and practicum i

- coursework: ent, resp, and cardiac

- clinical: required by utmb adult internal medicine - outpatient only. 168 hours. i found own preceptor and set it up.

summer: gnrs 5624 acute care nurse practitioner concepts and practicum ii

- coursework: endocrine and gi

- clinical: required by utmb adult general medicine - inpatient only. 168 hours. i did it with a local hospitalist group.

fall: gnrs 5625 acute care nurse practitioner concepts and practicum iii

- coursework: neuro and gu

- clinical: student choice, but required that most of the weekly hours were inpatient. i chose an adult icu rotation in the texas dept of criminal justice hospital.

fall: gnrs 5627 acute care nurse practitioner iv: clinical practicum

- clinical component only. student choice, again, 168 hours, inpatient mostly.

- utmb allowed this clinical course to be combined in the same semester as iii, you just had to do 3 consecutive days per week for the whole semester to meet the 168 hours x 2 requirement. i chose to do a cardiology rotation with a maximum of 1 outpatient day per week, of 3 consecutive clinical days.

i don't remember the semester: gnrs 5114 nurse practitioner: dimensions of professional role

- this was an online only course which just discussed being an np with a focus on legislation, our state nurse practice acts, etc. we designed a sample contract and a cv, i think. it wasn't a difficult class.

is this what you were looking for??? hope it helps...

JDCitizen · Oct 11, 2008

i went to utmb-galveston... started may 06, grad dec 07. this is not usual... below is the "usual plan" of 2 years. my acnp program starts the practicum specific to being an acnp every january, only. it is a 44-credit, one year program. i'll describe it in more depth below.
my program was set up where most people get accepted to the acnp program (must have 2 years acute care rn exp) to start in spring. during the spring and summer, they take the core (mostly online) msn classes, including theory, adv patho, health policy, pharm, research, and end with adv health assmt (not online, was one a week)which is the first counted "clinical" course. you don't really "go" to a clinical site, but because we were assessing each other and practicing on one another, it counts as clinical. this is taken in the fall to prepare you for starting your first practicum course in january. there are a total of 4 acnp practicum courses and then one professional role class mixed in that everybody has to take. each practicum had mandatory clinical rotations of 168 hours and the didactic focused on different body systems. the clinical requirements below are as i did them and i indicated the ones that were required my my program. i don't remember exactly the breakdown of the body systems per semester, but this will give you an idea:
spring: gnrs 5623 acute care nurse practitioner concepts and practicum i
- coursework: ent, resp, and cardiac
- clinical: required by utmb adult internal medicine - outpatient only. 168 hours. i found own preceptor and set it up.
summer: gnrs 5624 acute care nurse practitioner concepts and practicum ii
- coursework: endocrine and gi
- clinical: required by utmb adult general medicine - inpatient only. 168 hours. i did it with a local hospitalist group.
fall: gnrs 5625 acute care nurse practitioner concepts and practicum iii
- coursework: neuro and gu
- clinical: student choice, but required that most of the weekly hours were inpatient. i chose an adult icu rotation in the texas dept of criminal justice hospital.
fall: gnrs 5627 acute care nurse practitioner iv: clinical practicum
- clinical component only. student choice, again, 168 hours, inpatient mostly.
- utmb allowed this clinical course to be combined in the same semester as iii, you just had to do 3 consecutive days per week for the whole semester to meet the 168 hours x 2 requirement. i chose to do a cardiology rotation with a maximum of 1 outpatient day per week, of 3 consecutive clinical days.
i don't remember the semester: gnrs 5114 nurse practitioner: dimensions of professional role
- this was an online only course which just discussed being an np with a focus on legislation, our state nurse practice acts, etc. we designed a sample contract and a cv, i think. it wasn't a difficult class.
is this what you were looking for??? hope it helps...

yes thanks for the information....

UVA Grad Nursing · Oct 11, 2008

Ask the ACNP directors what the pass rate is for the ACNP exam over the past 5 years. The directors will know this, and this information is rarely on a website.

The last comparative study I saw had a lower passrate for the ACNP programs that were distance-learning than those hosted at academic medical centers.