As the US population ages, more healthcare providers are needed across many disciplines. You might be interested in becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner. Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) provide a wide range of primary, preventive, and acute healthcare
services to individuals of all ages. Additionally, FNPs diagnose and treat many acute and chronic health problems, as well as prescribe and manage medications.
You might be interested in becoming an FNP, but aren’t sure about all the alphabet soup of FNP, ARNP, DNP, or MSN. Let’s break it down.
We’ll start with APRN. APRN is the credential = Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (just like the credential after graduating with the BSN & passing NCLEX is RN). Keep in mind there are two certifying bodies for the credential.
If you see an FNP with the “APRN, FNP-C” credential, they are credentialed by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. If you see an FNP with the “APRN, FNP-BC” credential, they are credentialed by the America Nurses
Credentialing Center.
Next, FNP is the specialty = Family Nurse Practitioner. So, a person who is an FNP is also an APRN. Another example would be the APRN credential + the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner specialty or Adult Nurse Practitioner or Women’s Health
Nurse Practitioner.
Last, DNP is the degree. Here’s where it gets tricky: you can become a nurse practitioner with a DNP degree or an MSN degree depending on the school and what they offer. Some schools only offer NP specialties at the doctoral level.
Some schools offer NP specialties at the master’s level. At Bellarmine, the FNP specialty is currently at the MSN level.
Most FNP programs require applicants to be a registered nurse with a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree.
If you’re interested in Bellarmine’s FNP program, are a registered nurse with a BSN, you can get more info here.
If you’re interested in Bellarmine’s FNP program, but aren’t already a registered nurse with a BSN, you might consider our Accelerated Second-Degree BSN. It’s specifically designed for folks with a previous non-nursing bachelor’s
degree. You can change careers in just 12-months. You can get more info here.
If you’re a high school student with a goal of becoming a nurse practitioner, you’ll want to get more info about our undergraduate BSN program here.
Our undergraduate nursing program is one of the top private nursing schools in the nation according to Nursing
Schools Almanac. Our graduates consistently score above the state and national averages on the NCLEX, with a five-year average first-time pass rate of 91.4% (Kentucky Board of Nursing data).