Women's Health Clinical Nurse Specialist
Experienced advanced practice nurses who have earned, or are in the process of earning, a graduate degree in nursing (MN or DNP) are eligible to apply for our Women’s Health Clinical Nurse Specialist graduate certificate. You will gain knowledge and experience needed to provide care to families during the prenatal and birth processes through postpartum and infancy.
The Women’s Health CNS serves as an expert clinical resource for nurses, other health care providers, and families and provides consultation, education, research and leadership in the care of childbearing women.
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 perinatal study but are not yet advanced practice nurses, including nurse educators, nurse informaticists and nurse leaders, should apply through our Doctor of Nursing Practice track:
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. |
Our Women’s Health CNS graduate certificate can be completed in twelve months. The curriculum is individualized for each student, but at a minimum requires completion of the core graduate Women’s Health CNS curriculum.
Didactic classes typically meet on-campus one day a week and clinical seminars one day a month. This schedule makes the program accessible to students who live outside the Seattle area and to local students with limited availability during the week.
If you live outside of Washington State, you should contact the Women’s Health CNS faculty lead prior to applying to discuss clinical placement options.
Please note that admission to this graduate certificate program is on a space-available basis.
National Certifications
At this time, there is no specific certification for the Women’s Health CNS offered by national certification organizations.
Our Women’s Health CNS curriculum follows the Women’s Health CNS Competencies published by the Association of Women’s Health Obstetric & Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) in 2014.
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).