Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Primary Care
Do you want to provide care for the increasing millions of children living in the United States, many of whom have no usual source of health care? Are you interested in helping children with commonly occurring illnesses? Vanderbilt offers a primary care track for Pediatric Nurse Practitioners with convenience of flexible course delivery and distance formats during the specialty year.
What Will You Do as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner?
You will provide primary care for children from birth to 21 years of age in a variety of pediatric settings, and, in special situations, to individuals older than the age of 21.
Where Will You Practice? (clinical sites)
A variety of practice settings are available to primary and acute care Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, both during your Vanderbilt program and upon graduation and certification:
- Outpatient Pediatric Specialty Clinics
- Health Departments
- Preschools and Elementary Schools
- Private Pediatric Practices
- Community Agencies Caring for Technology-Dependent Children
How Will Vanderbilt Prepare You for Practice?
The Vanderbilt School of Nursing program offers experienced faculty and regular exposure to recognized experts and specialists working in fields such as pediatrics, neonatology, pediatric cardiology, autism and many more. Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and Vanderbilt Medical Center are at the cutting-edge of clinical practice and research in pediatrics. Your access as a PNP student to these facilities and experts is a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity.
The Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (PNP) track provides a broad theoretical and research foundation in advanced concepts of parent, child and adolescent nursing. An expert preceptorship provides an immersion experience with a clinical mentor – combining theory, research and practice in a clinical setting. Direct clinical experience is provided through observation and participation on a health care team in a primary care setting. This track is available for students with or without a nursing background and can also be taken by the post-master’s student.
Learn from Where You Live – Convenient for Working Nurses and Others
The PNP specialty program is offered in a modified learning (block) format that allows students to attend graduate school without having to relocate or give up employment. Distance and distributed course delivery methods, courses offered in blocks of time on campus (including weekends), online conferencing and clinical practicum placement in your home area where possible let you earn your MSN degree without being away from home for extended periods.
Students entering Vanderbilt without a nursing background need to complete the first three semesters (pre-specialty year) in residence in the Nashville area. The second or PNP specialty year is done in the distance format as described above.
