Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Acute Care
Our graduate certificate for Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Acute Care prepares you to focus on caring for children with acute, critical, and chronic illnesses and/or injuries. PNP-ACs provide health care to children (infancy through young adulthood) and their families in inpatient, emergency, and specialty care settings. PNP-AC practice focuses on restorative and/or palliative care.
This graduate certificate is for individuals who are looking to expand their existing scope of practice as an APRN and are currently a clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, or nurse anesthetist.
Students who are interested in pediatric study but are not yet advanced practice nurses, including nurse educators, nurse informaticists and nurse leaders, should apply through one of our Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) tracks:
- DNP – Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Acute Care
- DNP – Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Primary Care
- DNP – Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist
Curriculum
| The information provided below describes the regular, in-person program offering. Due to the COVID pandemic, however, we are following the State of Washington and campus-wide guidance for in-person attendance, and are offering most courses except laboratory courses (e.g., Advanced Health Assessment) in a distance learning format. |
In this graduate certificate program, you will complete twelve to fifteen months of study. Program development and fieldwork placements are individualized and developed by collaboration between the student and a faculty adviser based on formal gap analysis and evaluation of prior education and experience.
Clinical practice experiences are offered in urban and rural locations. Many of the core PNP-AC classes require in-person classroom attendance on a weekly basis plus additional clinical practicum hours. This is not an online/distance program.
Please note that admission to this graduate certificate program is on a space-available basis.
National Certifications
After successfully completing the PNP-AC graduate certificate, students are eligible to sit for the PNP Acute Care examination through the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB).
Accreditation
The post-graduate APRN certificate program at the University of Washington is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org).