Doctor of Nursing Practice, Family Nurse Practitioner (BSN to DNP) Overview

The FNP graduate is prepared to:

1. Synthesize knowledge from nursing theories, the humanities, and evidence-based scientific clinical guidelines to guide assessment of health status for patients of all ages.
2. Demonstrate advanced practice clinical decision making, integrating critical thinking, to interpret patient and diagnostic test data and formulate differential diagnoses and a plan of care for patients and families across the lifespan.
3. Design and implement a mutually agreed upon management plan and therapeutic interventions with patients and families across the lifespan.
4. Evaluate and revise the documented management plan based on patient/family findings, problems and expected outcomes of treatment. 
5. Apply family assessment methodologies and research findings to improve and evaluate the care of patients and families across the lifespan.
6. Advocate for patients and families to provide cost-effective, culturally competent, ethical, quality care in and across health care settings. 
7. Model responsibility for continued professional development, integrity, accountability, competence, and credentialing as a family nurse practitioner.

For more information regarding the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), click here. For more information on the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), click here.

Online Learning

USI faculty and staff are dedicated to giving you the support you need no matter the modality for which you're taking classes. Check out our robust resources for online students including what online learning is, technology requirements and frequently asked questions.

Online Student Resources

Program Outcomes

1. Integrate nursing science with knowledge from ethics and the biophysical, psychosocial, analytical, educational, and organizational sciences as the basis for the highest level of nursing practice.
2. Develop and evaluate care delivery approaches that meet current and future needs of patient populations based upon scientific findings in nursing science, clinical sciences, and organizational, political, and economic sciences.
3. Use analytic methods to appraise existing literature and other evidence to determine and implement the best evidence for practice. Serve as a leader in the development and implementation of institutional, local, state, federal, and international health policy.
4. Advocate for the patients and the nursing profession within government, business, education, and healthcare communities.
5. Collaborate with interprofessional teams to analyze complex practice and organizational issues in leading change to improve patient, population, and system health outcomes.
6. Analyze epidemiological, bio-statistical, environmental, and other scientific data related to individual, aggregate, and population health.
7. Integrate advanced level of judgment, systems thinking, and accountability in designing, teaching, delivering, and evaluating evidence-based care to improve patient and healthcare outcomes.