Post Master's Certificate in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP)

The Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP) acquires knowledge and experience to provide direct health care services to late adolescents and adults across the lifespan for the purposes of health promotion, health protection, disease prevention, and management of common acute and chronic illnesses. The AGACNP works in a variety of clinical settings that include, but are not limited to, acute care hospitals, long term care facilities, physician offices, urgent care centers, and ambulatory care centers. The population foci consist of late adolescents through the elderly experiencing acute and episodic chronic health problems. There are 24 credit hours in the specialty with 675 direct clinical hours.

The AGACNP graduate is prepared to:

1. Synthesize knowledge from nursing theories, the humanities, and evidence-based scientific clinical guidelines to guide assessment of health status of adults across the lifespan.
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 adults across the lifespan.
3. Design and implement a mutually agreed upon management plan and therapeutic interventions with adult 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 adult assessment methodologies and research findings to improve and evaluate the care of adult patients and families across the adult 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 an acute care nurse practitioner. 

• About the Clinical Experience