BSN to MSN Concentration
The Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) is prepared to manage the health care of patients from birth at any gestation to two years of age. This expanded clinician role is performed in collaboration with neonatologists and other pediatric clinicians. The NNP is employed in intensive care nurseries of various levels, newborn nurseries, and high-risk follow-up clinics, coordinates and manages care for infants with chronic health problems, and provides continuity for these children from hospital to home. Course work and clinical experiences focus on the care and management of critically ill and convalescent premature and full-term infants. The sequence of courses provides for a logical building of the clinical decision-making skills necessary to function as an NNP. The NNP is prepared to perform acts of medical diagnosis and prescribe medical therapeutics and corrective measures. In addition, the NNP selects and performs diagnostic and therapeutic invasive procedures on newborns in the intensive care setting.
Students may study full-time or part-time. The BSN to MSN curriculum is offered only onsite on the main campus in Pittsburgh. Selected core courses may be transmitted to students who live a distance from campus. Those courses are designated by a "D" in the sample program plan below. Graduates are eligible for national certification as an NNP offered by the National Certification Corporation and for legal certification as a Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner (CRNP) and prescriptive authority through the State Board of Nursing of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and other states.