Our Graduate Certificate in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP) prepares you to deliver specialized care to young adults, adults, and older adults. This program emphasizes managing patients with complex acute, critical, and chronic conditions, addressing health needs across the lifespan.
This certificate is designed for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who wish to broaden their scope of practice. It’s ideal for clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, and nurse anesthetists looking to deepen their expertise in adult-gerontology acute care.
In this Graduate Certificate program, you’ll complete 12 to 15 months of study. Your program plan, including fieldwork placements, is tailored to your needs through close collaboration with a faculty adviser. This process involves a formal gap analysis and an evaluation of your prior education and experience.
Clinical practice experiences are available in both urban and rural settings. Many core Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGNP-AC) courses require weekly in-person classroom attendance in addition to clinical practicum hours.
At the end of the program, the graduate will:
- Provide, safe, competent, high-quality care as an adult/gerontology acute care nurse practitioner.
- Provide culturally sensitive care to address the diversity of health needs among older adolescents, adults, older adults, families, and populations.
- Critically evaluate and apply research findings to advanced nursing practice to improve the quality and effectiveness of care to older adolescents, adults, and older adults.
- Demonstrate effective communication and leadership skills to promote positive health outcomes for individuals, families, and populations.
- Apply relationship-building values and the principles of team dynamics to perform effectively in different team roles to plan, deliver, and evaluate patient/population-centered care that is safe, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable.
- Demonstrate a personal commitment to professionalism, values, and ethical behaviors inherent in adult/gerontology advanced practice nursing.
After successfully completing the AGNP-AC track, students are eligible to sit for the AGNP Acute Care examination through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or American Association of Critical Care Nurses Certification Corporation (AACNCC).
Not yet an APRN?
If you’re interested in adult gerontology but are not yet an APRN — whether you’re a nurse educator, nurse informaticist, or nurse leader — we encourage you to explore our Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) tracks: