RN to Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Three Years

One of the most popular areas of concentration for RN to MSN programs around the country is the pediatric nurse practitioner.  Nurses have found that pediatrician offices are a natural fit for a nurse practitioner interested in daily contact with young patients.  There is also a natural role for a nurse practitioner in that environment, dealing with the everyday scrapes and minor illnesses that children develop.  Pediatricians with a high flow of patient traffic are then free to work with more seriously ill patients without an overflow of kids and parents in the waiting room.

Completing Undergraduate Nursing Studies

RNs who have gained their nursing license by completing an associate’s degree or a diploma program are required to complete some of the undergraduate requirements of the BSN when they enter the RN to MSN program.  The essentials for nursing training from the four year degree program are the elements that must be rounded out at the undergraduate level.  Generally this can amount to fifteen to eighteen credit hours in most schools, requiring a year or a little more to finish.  At that point the student is free to enter the graduate portion of the portion and prepare to focus on becoming a pediatric nurse practitioner.

The MSN Nurse Practitioner Curriculum

The nurse practitioner MSN program is a rigorous course of study consistent with the level of responsibility associated with the career.  Many nurse practitioners are de facto physicians, working in a doctor’s office and seeing patients, making diagnoses, providing treatment, writing prescriptions and providing follow-up treatment.  Because many of these programs are made available on a part time basis completion of the undergraduate program will dictate the speed with which completion is possible.  For RNs who want to be pediatric nurse practitioners, many schools also require that they have at least a year in pediatrics prior to entering the graduate program.

There are about sixty credit hours devoted to the master’s portion of the program, but at least twelve of those are absorbed by the clinical hours spent in completing the practicum.  The pediatrics specialization at Rush University, for example, requires three courses but the advanced practice training is an additional six courses or twenty credit hours.  Much of the training for diagnostics and pharmacology for children takes place in the advanced practice module rather than in the coursework dedicated to pediatrics.

The Practicum

Most schools require about 250 hours of supervised clinical experience as part of the completion requirements.  This is the practicum and for most students in the RN to MSN program, working in pediatrics will be familiar ground but the setting may be completely new.  A certified pediatric nurse practitioner will be involved in diagnostic activity that most RNs are not charged with.  The role of parental educator becomes a primary rather than a secondary responsibility when stepping up from an RN’s job to that of a licensed pediatric nurse practitioner.  For that reason many PNPs put in their clinical hours in a medical office or a clinic where direct responsibility for patient care becomes the most critical training component.