Working in health care is one of the most rewarding and secure career choices you can make. But if you want to increase your earning potential and create a more significant impact in the lives of your patients, an advanced degree is a necessity. Participating in an FNP program is an excellent choice because it gives you access to higher-paying jobs that give you more influence on the healthcare system without restricting your employment to a particular niche. As a Family Nurse Practitioner, you can diagnose and treat people of any age and background.

Most graduate students who become part of the Dominican University family are already working, so we designed our FNP program as a part-time option that you can complete while maintaining your employment. All our courses are run in the evenings, and you can earn your FNP degree in two years.  Typically, you will have classes on two evenings per week.

With classes on subjects like epidemiology, advanced pathophysiology and power, and policy and politics, our FNP program will prepare you to improve patient safety and enhance health care delivery. Our curriculum is based on the New AACN Essentials (2021) and was crafted to give you the knowledge and skill-set necessary to become a transformative leader in the healthcare industry. Our FNP degree is also CCNE-accredited, and upon completion, you’ll be qualified to sit for ANCC or AANP certification.

All our faculty are currently working as advanced practice nurses, so you’ll be learning from people who really understand what you need to know to succeed in your career. And we have faculty working in emergency medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, and school health, so you’ll get the broad educational insights you need to succeed.

The Dominican University difference:

  • Keep Working: Our weekday evening classes are designed to allow you to pursue your MS degree while working full-time.
  • Flexible Workload: Take classes twice a week every semester, and graduate in 24 months.
  • Flexible Tuition: Competitive rates, with an option to defer payment until the end of the term.
  • Flexible Learning: Some courses are offered as hybrids of classroom and online studies.
  • Top Faculty and Clinical Placements: Learn from expert practicing advanced nurses. Clinical placements are available at many top locations, representing different specialties.

With an FNP degree, you’ll be eligible for jobs enabling you to truly transform our healthcare system for the better. And at Dominican University New York, you’ll have a great college experience while you earn your Master of Science, Family Nurse Practitioner.

A robust, hands-on FNP degree to prepare you for an incredibly rewarding career as a Family Nurse Practitioner

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  • The highest levels of personal support
  • Staff who are committed to your success
  • Close proximity to New York City and three major airports

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A FNP Program degree that will equip you with marketable skills for almost any career

The highest levels of personal support

Staff who are committed to your success

The finest small-college athletic program in the region

A spirited campus environment

Close proximity to New York City and three major airports

The Dominican Difference

What I love most about Dominican University is that all the faculty make it their duty to see you succeed.  After receiving a BSN from the College in 2018, I decided to go back to Dominican University and enroll in the FNP program in 2020. This program has shaped me into a strong, confident person with a knowledge base that I know will aid me greatly in my career.  The program is shaped in an accommodating and convenient manor that allows students to work full time as nurses and still attend class and clinical. The instructors, especially AnneMarie McDermott, have pushed me to become the best version of myself and helped me to realize my full potential. 

Michelle Monaco, ‘18 

15,000
Alumni

76
Full-time Faculty

17
Miles from NYC

100% of First-Time,
Full-Time Freshman Receive Financial Aid

Job Opportunities

Obviously, an FNP degree will equip you to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. But that’s not the only job title you’ll be eligible for.

Upon completion of our FNP program you can also pursue such jobs as:

  • Advanced Nurse Practitioner
  • Nursing consultant
  • Nurse administrator
  • Research nurse
  • Nurse educator
  • Clinical nurse specialist

What You’ll Learn

Our FNP degree focuses on these key learning outcomes:

  • Integrate principles of systems theory, natural, biological, physical, and social sciences in advanced nursing practice
  • Analyze patient responses to therapeutic interventions
  • Synthesize the nursing process in a manner inclusive of biopsychosocial phenomena and cultural and ethnic variations
  • Synthesize primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention to promote optimal wellness
  • Integrate nursing research methods to improve advanced practice nursing
  • Demonstrate dependent, independent, and interdependent professional behaviors in advanced practice nursing

In short, by completing our FNP program, you’ll learn everything you need to:

  • Provide advanced patient care: Family Nurse Practitioners have more autonomy, giving you the ability to provide comprehensive care directly to your patients. As an FNP you’ll have the opportunity to deliver compassionate, holistic care to the full extent of your education and clinical expertise.
  • Expand your role as a nurse: Nurse practitioners can diagnose illnesses, prescribe medications and provide acute and primary care in a variety of clinical practice settings.
  • Open up a raft of rewarding career opportunities: Get access to management and educator positions, where a Master of Science is generally a requirement.

Degree Details


Tuition and Scholarships

The cost of attendance is an estimate of what it will cost to attend Dominican University for an academic year.

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Nursing Scholarship

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Course Descriptions

NR 500 Comprehensive Health Assessment (4 cr)

This course builds on previous undergraduate health assessment knowledge. Students will hone their interviewing skills and obtain a comprehensive health history; perform a comprehensive physical examination; and record assessment data on age-specific clients. Cultural and ethnic variations as well as diagnostic data constitute the client composite profile. Knowledge gained from this course prepares the advanced practice nurse to determine, plan, and monitor the health status of individual clients over time.

NR 520 Principles of Pathophysiology (4 cr)

This course builds on previous undergraduate concepts of integrative physiology. Lecture and problem-solving exercises expand the student knowledge of relevant pathophysiological processes involving major organ systems. Content in this course focuses on organismal changes associated with selected disease states, thus enabling students to analyze physiologic responses to illness and provide accurate treatment modalities.

NR 540 Pharmacology in Health and Disease (4 cr)

This course builds on the student’s undergraduate knowledge of basic pharmacology. The role of  the advanced practice nurse in prescribing, administering, and monitoring client pharmacotherapy is explored. Content in this course focuses on the pharmacotherapeutics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacoanthropology as well as ethical/legal considerations in managing drug therapy. Prerequisite: NR 520

NR 560 Role Differentiation in Advanced Practice Nursing (2 cr)

This course focuses on the preparation of the advanced practice nurse as a collaborative practitioner in today’s health care system. The origins of the advanced practice nursing movement and the roles and functions of advanced practice nurses are discussed. Course content emphasizes professional socialization as an advanced practice nurse, empowering the student to act assertively, think critically, and effectively execute interdisciplinary relationships.

NR 580 Theoretical Foundations of Nursing (3 cr)

This course focuses on the foundations of nursing practice. Knowledge of natural, biological, physical, and social sciences together with current research guides advanced practice nursing. The student discusses, analyzes, and critiques the theoretical foundations of nursing practice with a perspective toward developing a comprehensive holistic approach to client care.

NR 600 Research Praxis I (3 cr)

This course builds on undergraduate nursing research knowledge. Course content focuses on the utilization of new knowledge to provide high quality care, initiate change, and improve nursing practice. The student identifies researchable problems within the clinical setting, applies the research process, and develops a guided nursing research project.

NR 610 Research Praxis II (3 cr)

This course builds on NR 600. The focus of the course is theories of measurement, reliability, and validity of research instruments, and the use of statistical tools for both quantitative and qualitative research questions. Under faculty guidance, students select a research problem and design a study.

NR 640 Advanced Practice Family Nursing I: Focus on Children, Adolescents and Young Adults (4 cr) 150 clinical hours

The focus of this course is on health of children, adolescents, and young adults within the context of family. Primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention are emphasized. Health promotion, differentiation of normal from abnormal findings, refinement of developmental concepts, and age-specific biopsychosocial phenomena are explored. Students gain in-depth clinical practice and engage in opportunities that define the roles of diagnostician, educator, advocate, and collaborator with children, adolescents, and young adults in a variety of health care delivery systems. Prerequisites: NR 500, NR 520, NR 540

NR 660 Advanced Practice Family Nursing II: Focus on Middlescence (4cr) 150 clinical hours

The focus of this course is primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention in middlescent adults within the context of family-centered care. Health promotion, adult health risks, maturational and situational crises of middlescents are emphasized. The role of the advanced practice nurse in anticipatory guidance, particularly affecting women’s health is explored. Course content includes biopsychosocial phenomena and cultural and ethnic variations in middlescent populations. Students engage in in-depth clinical experiences that provide venues for family nurse practitioner role enactment. Prerequisites: NR 500, NR 520, NR 540

NR 680 Advanced Practice Family Nursing III: Focus on Elder Care (4cr) 150 clinical hours

The focus of this course is primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention in older adults within the context of family-centered care. Health promotion, adult health risks, maturational and situational crises of older adults are emphasized. The role of the advanced practice nurse in anticipatory guidance, particularly as it affects older adults, is explored. Course content includes biopsychosocial phenomena and cultural and ethnic variations in elder populations. Students engage in in-depth clinical experiences that provide venues for family nurse practitioner role enactment. Prerequisites: all 500 and 600 level courses

NR 700 Integrated Advanced Practice Nursing (4cr) 300 clinical hours

The focus of this course is primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention in individuals across the lifespan within the context of family-centered care. Health promotion, health risks, and health crises of families are emphasized. The role of the advanced practice nurse as diagnostician, educator, advocate, and collaborator are refined. Students engage in in-depth clinical experiences with families in a variety of health care settings. Students will complete 300 hours of clinical practice and submit a written project to satisfy course requirements. Prerequisites: all 500 & 600 level courses

NR 630 Power, Politics, and Policy (3cr)

The focus of this course is on roles and responsibilities of nurses in health care policy-making. Topics include political history of health workforce policy, the corporatization of health care, political context of federal and state regulations of health professions, and ethical responsibilities in the health care marketplace.

NR 650 Financing the Health Care Delivery System (3cr)

The focus of this course is financial management of health care agencies. Topics include health care financing and reimbursement systems, budget preparation, operating in a cost conscious environment, and analyzing the impact of financial information on nursing within varied health care delivery systems.

NR 670 Curriculum Design in Nursing (3cr)

The focus of this course is curriculum development in nursing education. Various nursing theorists, curriculum patterns, and models of nursing education are analyzed. Students write a program philosophy, organizing framework, and nursing curriculum to satisfy course requirements.

NR 690 Measurement and Evaluation Procedures (3 cr)

The focus of this course is on the development of teacher-made evaluation materials. Use and interpretation of standardized tests, preparation of test blueprints and use of instructional resources are emphasized.

MA 26 Inferential Statistics (3 cr)

Descriptive statistics, sampling distributions, point and interval estimation, random variables; one and two sample T-tests; hypothesis testing of the meant, proportion, and variance; ANOVA of multiple classifications; linear, non-linear and multiple regression; correlation; design, execution, and analysis of original research are covered topics.


Required Courses

REQUIRED COURSES: (39 CREDITS)

NR 500    Comprehensive Health Assessment (4)

NR 520    Principles of Pathophysiology (4)

NR 540    Pharmacology in Health and Disease (4)

NR 560    Role Differentiation in Advanced Practice Nursing (2)

NR 580    Theoretical Foundations of Nursing (3)

NR 600    Research Praxis I (3)

NR 610    Research Praxis II (3)

NR 640    Advanced Practice Family Nursing I: Focus on Children, Adolescents, Young Adults (4)

NR 660    Advanced Practice Family Nursing II: Focus on Middlescence (4)

NR 680    Advanced Practice Family Nursing III: Focus on Elder Care (4)

NR 700    Integrated Advanced Practice Nursing (4)

ELECTIVE COURSES: (3 CREDITS)

NR 730    Power, Politics, and Policy (3)

NR 750    Financing Health Care Delivery Systems (3)

NR 770    Curriculum Design in Nursing (3)

NR 790    Measurement and Evaluation Procedures (3)

MA 226    Inferential Statistics (3)


Academic Policies

In order to maintain continuous enrollment in the program, all graduate students must achieve a “B” in all clinical courses and maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 to continue in the sequence and graduate from the program.

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Accreditation / Certification

The Division of Graduate Nursing at Dominican University of Blauvelt has received specialized accreditation for its graduate nursing programs through the Communication on Collegiate Nursing Education national accrediting body located at One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 530 Washington, DC, 20036-1120.

The Family Nurse Practitioner Program at Dominican University is registered by the New York State Education Department and is accredited through the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education 655 K Street NW, Suite 750 Washington, DC, 20001; phone: (202) 887-6791.

Website: www.aacn.nche.edu

National Certification can be obtained through examination by:

  • The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
  • The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP)


Department Staff

AnneMarie McDermott

AnneMarie McDermott

Assistant Professor and Director Master of Science FNP and DNP Programs

Patty Furlong

Patty Furlong

Assistant Professor, Division of Nursing

Patricia Kivlehan

Patricia Kivlehan

Clinical Coordinator, MS-FNP Program

Barbara Polowczyk DNP,MSN, FNP-BC,RN

Barbara Polowczyk DNP,MSN, FNP-BC,RN

Coordinator WABSN and Evening Traditional programs

Paul Quinn

Nursing Instructor

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