Graduate Certificate Program in Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Acute Care

Our Graduate Certificate in Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Acute Care (PNP-AC) prepares you to specialize in the care of children with acute, critical, and chronic illnesses or injuries. PNP-ACs provide healthcare to children from infancy through young adulthood, as well as their families, in inpatient, emergency, and specialty care settings. The practice emphasizes restorative and palliative care. This certificate is designed for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), such as clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, and nurse anesthetists seeking to expand their current scope of practice. In this Graduate Certificate program, you’ll complete 12 to 15 months of study. Your program plan, including fieldwork placements, is tailored to your needs through close collaboration with a faculty adviser, based on a formal gap analysis and an evaluation of your prior education and experience. Clinical practice experiences are available in both urban and rural settings. Many core Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Acute Care (PNP-AC) courses require weekly in-person classroom attendance, along with additional clinical practicum hours.

Hold the minimum equivalent of a four-year baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college or university in the U.S. or its equivalent from an accredited foreign institution or a Bologna bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 180 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits. Also acceptable: hold a Master’s degree, a doctoral degree (Ph.D., D.Phil.), or a professional degree (M.D., J.D., D.V.M., etc.) from a regionally accredited college or university in the U.S. or its equivalent from an accredited foreign institution.