Residency Weeks for the MSN Program

The nurse practitioner faculty members are committed to quality and excellence in the online Nurse Practitioner (NP) Programs.  Campus visits are essential for students transitioning into the NP role.  The residencies afford faculty the opportunity to provide students with direct support, guidance, and mentoring; while they provide students with the opportunity to interact with faculty and collaborate with peers.  The on campus visits serve a twofold purpose of allowing faculty to ensure that students are adequately prepared to enter the clinical environment and of ascertaining that students are adequately prepared to graduate from the program.  Students meet on campus for 10 days at the beginning of the clinical practicum rotations and for one week at the end of the clinical practicum rotations.

The Residency Week at the beginning of the practicum courses allows students to finish the Advanced Physical Assessment Course on Campus.  Students take the final Advanced Physical Assessment examination on campus.  There is supervised lab time for instruction and practice prior to students re-demonstrating a graded Pass/Fail head to toe physical examination.  In addition, students utilize the newly built state-of-the-art Standardized Patient Lab to participate in a non-graded Standardized Patient Experience. This digitally taped experience allows students the ability to retrieve the encounter for self-review and provides for a review with faculty while on campus.

The week also includes an Orientation to Clinical, Workshops, Lectures, and an on the town Networking Dinner.  Workshops are designed to meet the needs of the specialized tracks: Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Students utilize SimMan for emergent and acute care simulated case learning experiences; Family Nurse Practitioner Students learn, hands on, how to perform Common Office Procedures; and the Psychiatric/Mental Health Students utilize Standardized Patients for simulated therapeutic and med-management cases.

The Residency Week at the end of the clinical practicum experience includes a graded Pass/Fail Standardized Patient Experience, preparation for Graduation, Licensure and Certification, the National Certifying Examinations, and entry into practice.  Workshops, lectures, and networking events are also conducted. 

All travel, dining, and housing expenses incurred for the Residency Weeks are the responsibility of the student.