New Jersey Nurse Practitioner Programs
If you’re ready to take the next step in your nursing education, you have lots of options to consider. Nurse practitioner programs in New Jersey could be the right choice if you’re passionate about evidence-based patient care. Depending on your preferences, you could work with families, adults, geriatric patients or children. Keep reading to explore course requirements, admissions standards and career paths. Find the right school for you with the search box above or the featured school listings below.
With advanced training and graduate education, you may have the opportunity to take your nursing career to the next level with a nurse practitioner degree. This career path permits you to play a bigger role in patient care and clinical decision making.
How Can I Become a Nurse Practitioner in New Jersey?
New Jersey requirements allow you to become a nurse practitioner with a Master’s degree or a doctoral degree.
Master’s Nurse Practitioner Degrees: New Jersey Requirements
- Credit hours required: 40 to 50 credits
- Average cost: $1,000 per credit hour
- Clinical hours required: At least 500 clinical hours
- Timeframe: Three years
Average Doctoral Degree Requirements in New Jersey
- Credit hours required: 80 credits
- Clinical hours required: At least 1,000 clinical hours
- Timeframe: Five to six years
What Types of Nurse Practitioner Programs Are Available in New Jersey?
As you look into nurse practitioner schooling options in New Jersey, you may notice that each school has specific specialty areas that you can choose. Since New Jersey is home to many large nursing schools, you may have many options.
Programs offered in New Jersey include family care, adult primary care, psychiatric care and mental health, gerontology, and women’s health. Course requirements vary between different types of programs, which is why it’s important to thoroughly evaluate multiple schools before choosing one that’s right for you.
Commonly Required Courses in FNP Programs
- Perspectives in Advanced Nursing Practice
- Advanced Human Pathophysiology
- Evidence-Based Nursing Practice
- Advanced Holistic Health Assessment
- Pharmacology for Advanced Practice
- Primary Care of the Family
- Diagnostic Reasoning and Clinical Decision Making
- Advanced Pharmacotherapeutics
You need to meet strict clinical requirements before you can graduate with a nurse practitioner degree. At the Master’s degree level, certification requirements mandate at least 500 hours of clinical work. To earn a doctorate, you need at least 1000 hours of clinical work.
Although you may get experience with a wide variety of patients and medical needs, the majority of your clinical experience should come from the population you chosen to work with professionally.
How Can I Pay for Nurse Practitioner School in New Jersey?
- BestNursingDegree.com Scholarship: Four times each year, our website awards $2500 scholarships to nursing students. Apply for the current scholarship cycle to see if you qualify.
- NURSE Corps Scholarship Program: This federal program was designed to provide rural and underserved communities with a greater variety of healthcare providers. In exchange for a large scholarship, you must spend two years in a Health Professional Shortage Area after graduation.
- NHSC Loan Repayment Program: Student loans can be a significant financial burden, but this program may help. Selected applicants have up to $50,000 of loans paid off after they complete a two-year stint at an approved NHSC site.
- New Jersey State Nurses Association: This organization serves nurses at all levels of training and education, including nurse practitioners. After you’ve been accepted to a nurse practitioner program, consider applying for one of this group’s grants.
Licensing and Practice Requirements for NPs in New Jersey
In New Jersey, all licensing of nursing staff goes through the New Jersey Board of Nursing. They require proof of graduation from an approved nurse practitioner program, national certification, and a current registered nursing license.
Currently, New Jersey has reduced practice rights for nurse practitioners, a fact that may change as legislative advocates fight for more comprehensive practice rights (AANP, 2016).
Nurse Practitioner Careers in New Jersey
You may use your nurse practitioner education in many medical settings, from private clinics and urgent care centers to emergency rooms and specialty clinics. In New Jersey, the average salary for a nurse practitioner is $111,090 per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016).
Between 2014 and 2024, O*Net expects job openings for nurse practitioners to increase 28% (2016). A lot depends on your area of study and which part of New Jersey you live in. Those in more focused areas of specialized study may find that metropolitan areas have a greater need for specialized care providers.
You could change the future of New Jersey healthcare with your nursing skills.
Selected New Jersey Schools for Nurse Practitioners
Some of the top NP programs in New Jersey are:
- Seton Hall University. Seton Hall offers Master’s-level nurse practitioner programs including Adult Nurse Practitioner, Gerontological Nurse Practitioner and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. All three programs offer Internet-based academic classes; clinical courses can be completed in your hometown.
- University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The University of Medicine and Dentistry offers Master’s-level NP courses at its Newark and Stratford campuses. In addition to the fairly common Adult Health Nurse Practitioner, Family Nurse Practitioner, Gerontological Nurse Practitioner and Psych/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner programs, UMDNJ offers a dual Adult Health/Gerontological NP track, as well as a Family Nurse Practitioner in Emergency Care track.
- Rutgers University. Rutgers offers acute care, pediatrics, women’s health, family nurse practitioner, oncology, adults and aged, and psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner programs; the psych/mental health program is not offered every year. Many NP courses are offered online, but on-campus courses are also required.
Nurse Practitioner Clinical Placement in New Jersey
As a nurse practitioner student, you will be learning invaluable information through lectures and studying. However, that’s just one part of earning your nurse practitioner’s license. One vital element of your curriculum is at least 500 hours of clinical rotations under a preceptor’s supervision. Possible New Jersey Nurse Practitioner preceptor locations and contact information are listed below.
NJ Nurse Practitioner Clinical Site Options
- CVS Minute Clinic, Trenton, NJ – Minute Clinic has developed a partnership with FNP and PA programs and students across the United States to provide clinical site options.
- CVS Minute Clinic, Newark, NJ – The preceptor program offers students practical hours in clinical processes in retail clinics in New Jersey and elsewhere.
- Rose Knapp, APN Program Coordinator, Monmouth University West Long Branch, NJ
Telephone: (908) 902-1395 Email: [email protected]
