Doctor of Nursing Practice
Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
Why study to be an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner at the University of Florida ?
Acute care nurse practitioners provide advanced treatments and care for acutely ill patients who have multiple and complex health problems. The patients are physically unstable and highly vulnerable to complications. Acute care nurse practitioners work in collaboration with physicians in a variety of acute care settings, such as intensive care units or emergency rooms.
There is a tremendous need for advanced nursing practice in acute care to meet the rising complexity of acute and critical care nursing, Patients are older and sicker and require a greater intensity of nursing care. Meanwhile, the demand for master's prepared nurses for advanced practice in acute care has outstripped the supply.
While no specific statistics exist regarding the nursing shortage in specialty areas, requests for traveling critical care nurses, who fill staffing gaps at hospitals, has skyrocketed in every part of the United States in the last year, according to the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. The increase in requests ranges from 45 percent for adult critical care units to 140 percent for emergency departments.
As part of a world-class health science center and network of interdisciplinary health care centers, the UF College of Nursing offers students access to a unique variety of clinical experiences in acute care settings such as emergency departments and surgical units, as well as a wealth of expert acute care nursing faculty and technological resources. Nursing students at UF have excellent and challenging opportunities to explore nursing research and science, be professionally involved with student and professional governance, and have access to clinical experiences with patients across the life and cultural span.
*This program is also available for postmaster's certificate study.
Program Description
The Acute Care Nurse Practitioner track prepares graduates in advanced practice nursing to provide collaborative patient management in a variety of acute and critical care settings. Students take the basic core advanced practice courses of pathophysiology, health assessment and diagnostic reasoning, pharmacotherapeutics, theory and research, ethics and policy. The program consists of 49 credit hours with an emphasis on stabilization and restorative care of acute and critically ill patients in a variety of settings. Practice sites include high-acuity care with patient populations that require complex monitoring and therapeutics as well as vigilant high-intensity nursing.
The program is offered on the Gainesville and Jacksonville campuses. Practicing adult, family, or geriatric nurse practioners with previous critical/acute care experience, may apply as post-masters ACNP students. Clinical labs will be arranged individually to better accommodate their scheduling needs. However, these students will meet with the clinical faculty on one of the two campuses once per month during each semester.
It is highly recommended that prospective students have some prior experience in acute and/or critical care nursing.
Acute Care Nurse Practitioner graduates are eligible for national certification through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
Application deadline for the graduate program is March 15. (See below for more details)*
*Note: The March 15 deadline for the MSN program indicate the earliest date when the College will begin accepting students. After March 15, applications to the MSN program will be accepted until May 31st and students will be accepted on a space available basis.
Acute Care Nurse Practitioner track applicants should refer to the Doctor of Nursing Practice page for admission criteria and application process information.
BSN to DNP- Full-Time Curriculum Plan and Part-Time Curriculum Plan
Post-master's Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (PM-ACNP) certificate curriculum plans are developed for prospective students who have already earned an MSN and would like to pursue an additional specialty area in adult acute care. Plans are individualized based on the national certification requirements for eligibility to take the certification examination as well as previous MSN coursework completed by the prospective PM-ACNP student.
Contact information:
All general MSN program inquiries should be directed to
Cecile Kiley
Coordinator, Academic Support Services
UF College of Nursing
PO Box 100197
Gainesville, FL 32610-0197
(352) 273-6331
For specific information regarding this clinical track, contact:
Dr. Lori Thomas
Gainesville Clinical Coordinator
thomala@ufl.edu or call (352) 273-6390.
Dr. Rosalyn Reischman
Jacksonville Clinical Coordinator
reisch@ufl.edu or call (904) 244-5175