This Graduate Certificate Program will allow acute care-certified pediatric nurse practitioners to acquire essential knowledge and skills in pediatric primary care with a particular focus on care of children with complex chronic conditions. It will require satisfactory completion of sixteen credits of didactic content and clinical practice. The certificate provides nurses with essential knowledge and skills to assume primary care roles in a myriad of settings using a patient and family-centered care model. Courses focus on integrating advanced health assessment, pathophysiology, primary care clinical care and management. Specific clinical experiences in two of the courses will be tailored to meet needs of individual graduate certificate students. Students will be expected to acquire a minimum of 500 hours of primary care experience as required to meet the specialty competencies and the requirements to take the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner-Primary Care national certification examination from the Pediatric Nursing Certifying Board (PNCB).

Admission Requirements

Admission to this program is contingent upon admission to the Graduate School an availability of College of Nursing resources. Students must also meet the following criteria for admission:

1. Completion of a graduate (Master's or doctoral) degree in Nursing from a nationally accredited institution; academic transcripts. If the student is currently enrolled in the D.N.P. program, the certificate will not be awarded until the D.N.P. is posted on the transcript.
2. Current Michigan Registered Nurse licensure.
3. Two professional letters of recommendation.
4. Resume.
5. A personal goal statement.
6. PNP-AC Certificate.

Program Requirements

The Graduate Certificate in Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Primary Care requires courses which must be taken in sequence over one calendar year with no transfer credit accepted. This certificate requires a minimum of sixteen credits which must be earned within three years with no transfer credit accepted. Any additional requirements are determined by a GAP analysis. A minimum grade point average of 3.0 must be achieved. All course work must be completed in accordance with the academic procedures of the College of Nursing and the Graduate School governing graduate scholarship and degrees.