Online Family Nurse Practitioner Program (MSN-FNP)

Write the Next Chapter of Your Nursing Career

Earn your degree to become a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), an advanced practice specialty that puts your skills to work in the realm of primary care, so you can make an even more significant and lasting impact on patients’ lives.

Gwynedd Mercy University’s Master of Science in Nursing Program – Family Nurse Practitioner (MSN-FNP) track offers the advanced knowledge, skills, and clinical experience you need to provide patients with personalized primary care.

What Is a Family Nurse Practitioner?

FNPs provide healthcare for entire families. You’ll work with patients from all ages and walks of life, from newborns and their parents to the elderly.

As a certified FNP, you can:

Assess patients
Diagnose patients
Treat acute and chronic illnesses
Prescribe medications (subject to collaborative agreement by the state in which you practice)
Make referrals to specialists
Advise and educate patients and family members on health issues and healthy living habits

Why FNPs Are In Demand

As the baby boomer generation ages and the population continues to grow, demand for primary care is rising. However, research shows that the U.S. stands to face a shortage of up to 100,000 primary care physicians by 2030. Nurses who become FNPs can help fill that gap.

With their expanded scope of practice, FNPs can offer patients care and service similar to that of a physician, while also emphasizing health education for their patients. Effective, thorough, compassionate care that fills a societal need: no wonder the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts up to 53,300 new job openings for nurse practitioners from 2018-2028.

Where FNPs Work

As an FNP, you can work in a diverse array of professional settings, including:

Physician offices (family medicine)
Community centers
Nurse-managed clinics
Self-owned practices
Hospices
Urgent care facilities
Home care services

The GMercyU Difference

What sets us apart from other family nurse practitioner programs? Gwynedd Mercy University’s hybrid MSN-FNP program offers the flexibility and convenience you need. Earn your degree in two and half years of full-time online classes – or complete the program in three to five years of part-time study so you can continue to work.

Our advanced nursing programs also have deep and broad partnerships with health care affiliates and clinical sites throughout the region and Pennsylvania, which means you will have many different opportunities for first-hand clinical experience while you pursue your MSN-FNP with us.

After graduation, you should be prepared to pass the Family Nurse Practitioner exam.

A Leading Regional Nursing School for More Than 60 Years

For decades, Gwynedd Mercy University’s Frances M. Maguire School of Nursing and Health Professions has led the region in health practitioner education. We've earned our reputation as one of the best nurse practitioner schools in PA, thanks to our small classes and rigorous curriculum that produce confident, capable nursing professionals. The nursing faculty members we select bring clinical expertise, academic rigor, and a passion for the nursing profession to the classroom.

The community of nursing experts, scholars, and regional health care leaders we have developed — not to mention our thousands of nursing alumni — is an invaluable resource for your professional development and personal enrichment. Inside and outside the classroom, the GMercyU community offers you the opportunity to earn your MSN-FNP degree from a renowned nurse practitioner program online.

What You Will Learn

GMercyU Nurse Practitioner programs prepare you for the responsibilities of primary care. Through the course of the program, you’ll expand your clinical knowledge and clinical practice skills, engage in professional research and writing, and explore contemporary issues in policy and society that impact health care. You’ll emerge from the program equipped to be the health practitioner and advocate your patients need.

As a GMercyU Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner (MSN-FNP) graduate, you will be able to:

Collaborate with colleagues and consumers to provide and improve advanced nursing care
Demonstrate expertise as an advanced practice nurse through the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic health problems
Demonstrate professionalism as a nurse practitioner grounded in the Mercy tradition
Demonstrate social responsibility for individuals, families, and communities within the context of a multicultural society
Utilize knowledge to provide holistic care in a defined area of advanced practice nursing or nursing education in accordance with standards of practice and codes of ethics
Strategize to improve health for all by influencing policy
Synthesize knowledge from nursing and related disciplines as a foundation for evidence-based practice as a nurse practitioner
Assume a leadership role in interpreting and promoting advanced nursing to members of the profession, to other disciplines, and to consumers
Contribute to advanced nursing knowledge through scientific inquiry

Curriculum

You will complete 48 credits with 720 clinical hours in our MSN-FNP program, either as a full-time student for two and a half years or a part-time student for three to five years.

Core Course Requirements for Master of Science in Nursing Programs

Advanced Pharmacology for Advanced Nursing Roles
Advanced Pathophysiology for Advanced Nursing Roles
Advanced Assessment & Lab for Advanced Nursing Roles
Theoretical Foundations for Advanced Nursing Roles
Nursing Research Methodology & EBP
Leadership & Health Policy

MSN-FNP Courses

Role Transition I
Role Transition II
Primary Care I – Introduction
Primary Care II – Newborn (0-5)
Primary Care III – Young Child (6-11)
Primary Care IV – Adolescent (12-18)
Primary Care V – Young Adult (18-29)
Primary Care VI – Middle Adult (30-55)
Primary Care VII – Older Adult (56+)
Primary Care VIII – Women’s Health & Pregnancy

FNP Post-Master’s Certificate Option

If you already hold a Master of Science in Nursing, you can complete the courses you need to become a family nurse practitioner with our FNP Post-Master’s Certificate Program.

We will work with you to evaluate your prior learning and determine a personalized certificate program curriculum for you.

Become a Family Nurse Practitioner with GMercyU

Make even more of a difference in the lives of patients as a primary care practitioner — enroll in Gwynedd Mercy University’s accelerated MSN-FNP program today.

Call 877-531-7941 or email accelerate@gmercyu.edu to contact an admissions counselor. You can also begin your application online now!

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Accreditation

The Master of Science in Nursing program at Gwynedd Mercy University is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), 655 K Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20001, at 202-887-6791 (www.ccneaccreditation.org).

Licensure: This program was designed to meet national licensure requirements. Carefully review the process of your home state’s licensure requirements. For more information, please visit our Program Licensure Requirement page.