Widener

In response to primary care provider shortages throughout the tri-state area as well as the need for advanced practice nurses with expertise in health promotion, clinical decision-making, diagnostic reasoning, interdisciplinary collaboration and leadership, Widener developed Master's and Post-Master's Certificate Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) programs. The FNP option began in 1994 on the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania campus and was expanded to the Main Campus in Chester, Pennsylvania in 1995. In 1999, the School of Nursing began to offer a new FNP certificate option for nurse practitioners with specialties other than FNP on the Main Campus.

 

The curriculum of the FNP Program can be completed on either the Main or Harrisburg campuses. For student convenience, selected courses are offered during day, evenings, and on the weekends. The curriculum emphasizes health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis, and management of chronic and acute episodic illness. Facilitated by a team of expert nurse practitioner faculty, the program prepares the professional nurse as a provider of primary care using state of the art resources and clinical sites. Students are provided exciting preceptored learning opportunities in a variety of urban rural practice sites including private practice, hospitals, schools, nursing homes, and in health departments. Emphasis is placed on developing critical thinking skills, interdisciplinary and cross-cultural communication skills, and holistic therapeutic management of at-risk populations. Graduates are eligible to take national certification examinations.