MS with ANP Specialization Program

Purdue Nursing Masters Graduate Students and Faculty

The Master of Science (MS) Degree with a Major in Nursing and Adult Nurse Practitioner specialization (MS/ANP) at Purdue University's West Lafayette campus provides an opportunity for multidisciplinary study through a 630-hour preceptorship, access to Purdue School of Nursing Nurse-Managed Clinics, research opportunities on the Purdue West Lafayette campus, and the option to take electives in the multidisciplinary gerontology program. A post-master's Adult Nurse Practitioner Certificate is available for students who have a master's in nursing. Required courses are individualized, based on previous master's curriculum. For more information, call (765) 494-9248 or visit this website.

The goal of the program is to develop the leadership and practice roles necessary to shape nursing practice in a dynamic, complex, and globally interdependent healthcare system. The graduate program offers an innovative approach to advanced practice education by integrating expertise from other disciplines, e.g., medicine, pharmacy, gerontology, audiology, speech pathology, social work, and physical and occupational therapy during the 630-hour preceptorship.

The unique features of the West Lafayette graduate nursing program include the opportunities for multidisciplinary study and research on the West Lafayette campus, the rural focus, and the global perspective.

Other unique features of the program include:

1. Clinical preceptorship with multidisciplinary teams caring for underserved populations in rural primary healthcare settings.
2. Clinical preceptorship in culturally diverse local (Delphi/Family Health Clinic of Carroll County, Family Health Clinic of White County, Trinity Nursing Center for Infant Health), national (Native American reservations) and international settings (Nursing Students Without Borders (NSWB) projects in Mexico, the Brigada project in Honduras, and the World Health Organization Collaborating Center affiliation).
3. Use of distance learning technology as a component of the Purdue Graduate Nursing Consortium.
4. Opportunity to enhance learning through engagement with faculty from the Purdue Graduate Nursing Consortium.
5. The opportunity for part-time study, allowing students to continue to maintain professional employment while pursuing an advanced degree.
6. Access to multidisciplinary faculty and researchers in related fields of study.
7. Opportunities to work with nursing faculty in a specified area of nursing research.
8. Opportunities to work with multidisciplinary members of the healthcare team in the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of care for specific populations.
9. Opportunities to tailor elective courses in an area of sub-specialization such as gerontology.

The program is designed to educate nurses who can provide competent, culturally sensitive, cost-effective, accessible, and efficient care with an emphasis on rural underserved populations. Students in the program are exposed to global perspectives through ongoing projects in Honduras and Mexico. They also have an opportunity to participate in clinical preceptorships with diverse populations in the U.S., specifically the growing Hispanic population in rural Indiana and the Native American population through the Purdue University School of Nursing Navajo Nation project in Kayenta, Arizona.

Graduates will be eligible to take the ANP national certification exam offered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or the ANP national certification exam offered by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Program graduates are expected to achieve the outcomes listed below.

Upon successful completion of the MS, the graduate will be able to:

1. Evaluate client and family responses to health and illness as a basis for the promotion, restoration, and maintenance of health and functional abilities and the prevention of illness.
2. Synthesize theory and research in the management of the care of individuals and families in a specialized area of practice.
3. Integrate rural and urban nursing and non-nursing theorists into practice.
4. Use nursing interventions based on knowledge of the interrelationship among person, environment, health, and nursing.
5. Demonstrate role competence as an Advanced Practice Nurse.
6. Provide leadership in affecting positive changes in professional, social, political, and ethical situations to advance nursing, healthcare, and health policy.
7. Evaluate nursing and health systems effectiveness based on outcomes.
8. Demonstrate competencies as an Advanced Practice Nurse through successfully meeting national standards for certification.