Graduate Certificate: Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

This program prepares licensed registered nurses, who already have a Master of Science in Nursing degree, for another exciting level of practice—the role of Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. According to the American Nurses Credentialing Center (AACN), the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care nurse practitioner provides health care services to adult patients with complex acute, critical, and chronic health conditions. The Adult-Gerontology Acute Care nurse practitioner provides these services in high-acuity settings that require intensive monitoring and therapeutic intervention. Adult-Gerontology Acute Care nurse practitioners are typically employed in hospital settings, including intensive care, sub-acute care, and emergency care; but, may also be employed in ambulatory, outpatient, and rehabilitative settings to provide population-based care across the healthcare continuum for the purpose of restoring individuals to their maximal health potential. Graduates of the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care nurse practitioner track are prepared to excel in any acute care environment upon graduation from Mount Carmel.

Students graduating from the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner track will be eligible for American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) certification examination for Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse (this examination is under development by ANCC).

Student Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner track, graduates will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Assume advanced nursing roles in clinical practice
2. Deliver competent health care to diverse populations within the community
3. Use epidemiological, social, and environmental data to draw inferences to effectively assist patients in achieving and/or maintaining optimal health or to stabilize chronic conditions
4. Facilitate the use of evidence-based practice in nursing
5. Design health promotion and disease prevention clinical programs for individuals and families in acute care settings
6. Evaluate nursing practice and health care to produce quality outcomes of evidence-based acute care services throughout the community
7. Demonstrate leadership in clinical practice
8. Use ethical decision making in the delivery of acute care services for vulnerable populations
9. Collaborate with intra and interdisciplinary professionals to achieve quality outcomes in nursing practice
10. Promote nursing as a profession and a discipline
11. Demonstrates scholarly inquiry through verbal and written communication in clinical scholarship