Post Master's Certificates?

mom2cka · Mar 14, 2015

St. Scholastica has offered this one

nursetim, NP · Mar 15, 2015

Post masters are a crock. Most all, with two exceptions, want 20-30 months, $30,000-$60,000. Nothing to show for it than a chance to take the test. Are we a bunch of schmucks for putting up with this or what?

good luck

APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP · Mar 15, 2015

Post-Master's | UCSF School of Nursing

UCSF has a post masters certificate program which takes about 4 to 8 quarters, depending upon what you need. I did not explore the online status - but it is a place to start.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Mar 15, 2015

University of Southern Indiana | USI | Bachelor and Master Degrees has one - and tuition is the same in-state and out. reasonable, and only one campus visit that I'm aware of.

amdelay · Mar 15, 2015

Hi all, I have a friend who is an FNP and looking for an online school do get her mental health certificate for now before moving on. Any advice on what type of school for her to go to? Maybe at least a place to start would be helpful.

AtomicWoman · Mar 15, 2015

Post-Master's | UCSF School of Nursing
UCSF has a post masters certificate program which takes about 4 to 8 quarters, depending upon what you need. I did not explore the online status - but it is a place to start.

Just a follow-up quote from UCSF's post-master's webpage: "Post-master's programs cannot be taken through on-line or distance learning options."

dienw · Mar 15, 2015

There's a wide variation in post-master's NP certificate programs. Some may require that you already be an NP. Eastern Kentucky University's certificate programs (they have one for psyc) are completely online. Drexel University has an online post-master's psyc NP program, but it requires some campus visits. Other schools require a few campus visits for their online programs which of course makes them more expensive.

Your specific academic background makes a difference. Have you taken a course on the role of the advanced practice nurse? If so, that might be one less course for you to take. All NP programs have the core courses called the three P's - patho, pharm, physical assessment. If you've completed those, you have less to take. Prior courses can't be more than a certain number of years old to count. It's possible that you could have as few as 21-27 semester hours of course work remaining to obtain the certificate. Depending on the school's tuition and the number of hours, you might have a total tuition cost under $20,000. Or you might end up well above $30,000.

There is a misconception I've heard some nurses articulate. Some think a post-master's NP certificate student takes fewer courses and is thus less qualified. The same amount of coursework is required. It's just a question of when and where it was done. It might be spread out over two or more schools and a longer period of time. I'm aware of a nursing education MSN where all of the students take the three P's. Those graduates would start NP clinicals in a post-master's certificate program pretty quickly. Every combination of student and certificate program is different.

U.S. News provides rankings for all online nursing schools. Best Online Nursing Programs | Online Nursing Rankings | US News

You can restrict the search to fully online NP programs: Online Nursing Degree Program Search | US News It's about 26 schools, which is small enough that you can check each school to see if psyc is offered.