By Sharon
Gray
Two new graduate programs in nursing will begin this fall.
Specialization as a nurse practitioner will be offered as
an option in the master’s of nursing program. A post-master’s
nurse practitioner diploma is also available for nurses
who already have a master’s degree. Dr. Alice Gaudine,
associate director of graduate programs and research for
nursing, said the nurse practitioner option will offer specialities
in adult acute care and mental health. Plans are also underway
to eventually offer a neo-natal specialty option in co-operation
with Stony Brook Health Sciences Centers at the State University
of New York.
Dr. Gaudine said the purpose of the master’s of nursing
nurse practitioner program and the post master's nurse practitioner
diploma is to prepare nurses at an advanced level to practice
in a variety of settings. Because the programs are new,
there is a special course fee in addition to tuition, but
Dr. Gaudine said there is the possibility that some hospitals
might pay the nursing students a salary during the supervised
practicum in a hospital setting.
Dr. Gaudine said that students in the post-master’s
program will be in the same class as students in their second
year of the MN nurse practitioner option, with four months
of intensive course work followed by a four-month practicum.
She anticipates that eventually there will be 10 students
in the nurse practitioner program each year.
Donna Best, Nursing, will co-ordinate the new program. She
said it has been developed in response to community and
institutional needs. Because nurse practitioners have prescriptive
and diagnostic authority, teachers for the course work will
include faculty from medicine and pharmacy.
