Post-Master’s Certificate / Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, College of Health Sciences, Online

To be considered for admission to the Post-Master's Certificate / Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Track, applicants must submit the following documented evidence:

• Graduation from a regionally accredited Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) degree program.
• Current and unencumbered licensure to practice as a registered nurse in at least one legal jurisdiction in the United States and its territories.
• Current and unencumbered license to practice as an advanced practice nurse in at least one legal jurisdiction in the United States and its territories.
• National certification through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board (AANPCB) or the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
• Documentation of current clinical, educational, or administrative practice related to nursing that can serve to facilitate successful completion of an advanced nursing degree.
• Certification by the applicant that there are no pending or reasonably anticipated investigations of his/her registered nursing licensure or advanced practice certification.
• A cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale. 
• Successful completion of a college-level statistics course. 
• Oral and written communication skills necessary to interact with faculty, patients, and colleagues. 
• Successful completion of the program application on the Midwestern University website. 
• Successful completion of a Midwestern University Criminal Background Check. 
• Commitment to abide by the Midwestern University Drug-Free Workplace and Substance Abuse Policy. 
• Successful completion of an interview with program faculty (scheduled during the final application review). 
• Successful completion of all physical examination and inoculation requirements prior to matriculation.  
• Certification of Basic Life Support (BLS) and AED Training for Health Care Professionals prior to matriculation.

Full list of requirements

The Post-Master’s Certificate / Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Track is a 12-month curriculum divided into a didactic phase (4 quarters), one mandatory on-campus intensive, and an overlapping clinical phase (3 quarters). The degree consists of 35 quarter credits and 640 clinical hours in the area of focus. 

The initial portion of the track emphasizes the professional role of the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner in health promotion, screening and diagnostic measures, pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, and disease prevention through evidence-based practices within primary care settings of the population foci (adolescence through geriatrics). There is one mandatory 4-Day Campus Intensive which will be completed at the end of the first quarter of Year 1, followed by the clinical phase beginning in the second quarter of Year 1.      

Students may rotate to multiple primary care clinical sites within their respective state. These sites provide students with a broad scope of experiences in rural, urban, and suburban clinics, as well as specialty rotations in internal medicine, long-term care/assisted living, hospice, home health, and pharmacy. 

Graduates are required to demonstrate specific foundational and concentration-related competencies. The didactic curriculum and applied practicum experiences allow each student to demonstrate attainment of the nine Master of Science in Nursing Essentials. 

Nurse practitioners with a focus on adult-gerontology primary care have an earning potential of $120,480 - $163,350 per year (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, variance is based on region/experience and area of specialty).

Less than 8% of nurse practitioners are trained in adult-gerontology primary care. This need continues to increase with the aging population in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the geriatric population is expected to outnumber children by the year 2035.

The post-graduate APRN certificate/Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner focus at Midwestern University is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, 655 K Street NW Suite 750, Washington, DC 20001; phone: 202-887-6791.