Master of Science in Nursing - Family Nurse Practitioner Track (MSN)

Lori Conyers, Program Director

Faculty: Karen Higgins

The Master of Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner Track is a 47-credit hour, BSN to MSN program offered as a full-time plan of study. The entry to practice MSN degree offers students a hybrid approach to learning by combining remote, asynchronous, and synchronous courses with timely on-campus hands-on learning intensives. Students will complete 600 hours of supervised clinical experience in a variety of primary care settings including family practice, pediatrics, internal medicine, women’s health, and geriatrics.  In this program students will gain the requirements necessary to be eligible for a National Certification Examination (NCE).

Accreditation

The Master of Nursing -Family Nurse Practitioner Track is fully accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (www.ccneaccreditation.org).

Program Mission

The Family Nurse Practitioner Program curriculum prepares advanced practice students to be transformational and innovative nurse leaders who provide culturally competent care and exhibit professionalism, respect, integrity, and legal/ethical standards. The curriculum is designed to provide the student with the skills they need in assessment and management of the patient within the health system to provide safe, evidenced based primary care to individuals throughout their life span.

Application Deadline

Rolling admissions up to 2 weeks before start of term (in NursingCAS).

Admission Criteria

Students applying for admission to the Family Nurse Practitioner Program must meet minimum requirements to be considered for acceptance into the program.

The following criteria are considered when reviewing all Family Nurse Practitioner graduate applications for admission:

1. Current unrestricted RN license in the Commonwealth of Virginia or state participating in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA)
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Personal statement
4. Official transcripts
5. Completion of undergraduate or graduate courses on Evidence-Based Practice and basic Statistics with a grade of “C” or higher
6. Earned BSN from an accredited CCNE or ACEN School of Nursing with a GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale
7. Minimum of one year (2,080 hours) of full-time nursing experience
8. Current BLS certification

Note: Due to the competitive nature of the admission process, applicants should understand that meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission into the program. Applicants will be screened, and the most qualified individuals will be invited for an interview.

Transfer Criteria

Students transferring from another NP program must meet the same designated criteria for admissions. 

• Up to 33% of NP course curriculum may be transferred at the discretion of the NP Program Director or NP Faculty Advisors. These courses may not include the NP Didactic and Clinical Courses.
• Courses considered for transfer must have been taken at an accredited college or university and have earned an A or B.

Program Progression

Students must meet all the progression requirements to progress in the NP Program.

1.  Requirements for progression – to progress through the NP Program, students must meet, achieve and/or maintain the following:

• A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
• No less than a “B” in any required NP Curriculum Course, including Advanced Pathophysiology, Advanced Health Assessment and Advanced Pharmacology 

2.  Once the NP student has begun the clinical practicum, they must be completed continuously, without any breaks, unless explicit permission is given by the NP Program Director and the faculty advisor. 

• Any NP didactic or clinical course that needs to be repeated, may result in the student repeating both the course that was “failed” and the correlating course. This is to keep the clinical experiences in sync with the learning of content.
• An NP course must be repeated if the student does not earn a B or above, or if given an unsatisfactory in a clinical course.

Academic Standing, Probation, Dismissal

Program progression is sequential and new content learned builds on previous semesters learning. Students must successfully complete each semester before progressing to the next. Students who fail to meet the requirements of the NP Program Progression Policy will be identified and placed on academic probation or dismissed from the program.

PROCEDURE: 
The NP Program students are responsible for initiating communication with faculty advisors if there is an area of concern to review student learning goals, review student time commitment, and review progress in the clinical practicum.

Requirements for program progression:
1.     A “Satisfactory” in all practicum courses.
2.     A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
3.     No less than a “B” in any required FNP course.
4.     A grade below a “C” in any course is considered a failing grade.

A student who does not maintain a 3.0 cumulative grade point average in all graduate courses at the end of any semester or receives a grade of “C” in a required NP course will be placed on academic probation during the following semester.  This includes all courses on the curriculum map. 

While the student is on academic probation, the student may enroll in all required courses outlined in their course of study. If the student does not achieve a cumulative grade point average above a 3.0 or receives a grade of “C” in a required NP course, the student may be dismissed from the NP program. A singular course may be repeated once. If the course is failed on the second attempt, the student may be dismissed from the program. 

A student may be placed on probation or dismissed from the NP Program for reasons not related to poor grades, even if the student is in good academic standing. Dismissal from the NP Program can occur due to, but is not limited to, the falsification of application materials, failure to satisfy stipulations needed for admission to the program, failure to maintain academic and ethical standards, academic integrity and failure to follow policies and procedures established by Mary Baldwin University, Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences, and the NP Program or failure to satisfy requirements set forth by the program in a timely fashion.

Dismissal from the NP Program as referenced above will occur on a case-by-case basis upon the recommendation of the Specific NP Program Director and the School of Nursing Director, and/or with the approval of the Dean of MDCHS.

The student must follow the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences General Appeal Policy for appeal of grades or academic misconduct issues.