Alabama’s Nurse Practitioner Degree Programs
Ready to take the next step in your nursing career? If you’re interested in making an even bigger difference with the work you do, consider becoming a nurse practitioner. You can get started at nurse practitioner programs in Alabama. Use the resources on this page to guide you through the process. You can learn about different job paths, graduation requirements and work options in Alabama. Use the quick search box above or explore the featured schools below to find the right nurse practitioner training program for you.
Alabama, a state plagued by a shortage of healthcare practitioners in recent years, may benefit from an increase in nurse practitioner graduates (Gadsden Times, 2016). 62 of the state’s 67 counties are designated as healthcare shortage areas. If you’re interested in becoming a Nurse Practitioner in Alabama, you’ve come to the right place.
How to Become a Nurse Practitioner in Alabama
If you plan on taking your nursing career to the next level, you may become a nurse practitioner by earning a Master’s nurse practitioner degree or a doctorate degree. The Alabama Board of Nursing requires a Master’s degree.
Master’s Level Nurse Practitioner Requirements
- Credit hours required: 30 to 40 credit hours
- Average tuition rate: $535 per credit for residents and $1,150 per credit for non-residents
- Clinical hours required: At least 500 hours (AACN, 2016)
- Timeframe: 4 to 5 semesters on a full-time basis
Doctoral Level Nurse Practitioner Requirements
Your doctoral requirements depend on your current amount of education. Average Alabama Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) requirements include:
- Credit hours required: 40 credits with Master’s degree in nursing; 70 to 80 credits with Bachelor’s degree in nursing
- Clinical hours required: At least 1000 clinical hours (AACN, 2016)
- Timeframe: 4 to 6 semesters beyond your Master’s degree
NP Programs Available in Alabama
As a Bachelor’s level nurse, you may have experience working with patients of all ages, medical needs, and diagnoses. While earning a graduate degree, you should become an expert in one specific population or medical specialty. Programs tend to focus on either acute care or primary care, and your choice determines your work setting.
Some of the specialty areas available in nurse practitioner schooling include family primary care, adult-gerontology, psychiatric-mental health, pediatric primary care, neonatal care, and women’s health.
There are similarities between curricula for graduate and PhD programs. At the PhD level, you may enroll in courses that focus heavily on research, data management, and leadership.
Commonly required graduate courses in FNP programs include:
- Advanced Health Assessment
- Advanced Pathophysiology
- Informatics
- Advanced Pharmacology
- Evidence-Based Practice Roles
- Primary Care for Rural Families
Those who enroll in doctoral programs to become a nurse practitioner may enroll in the following classes:
- Clinical Data Management and Analysis
- Leadership and Role Development
- Evidence-Based Practice Design and Translation
- Health Policy and Politics
- Informatics for Advanced Practice Nursing
- Population Health in Advanced Practice Nursing
Regardless of which degree you choose, remember that admissions requirements tend to be rigorous in this field. Nurse practitioners are expected to act as leaders in their place of employment, lead change in healthcare, and work more independently than registered nurses.
Most programs require a Bachelor’s degree in nursing and at least one to two years of nursing experience. Accelerated programs may accept students with non-nursing Bachelor’s degrees, while RN-to-MSN programs are designed for Associate’s degree graduates.
The learning outcomes of your program outline your priorities as a student. You may learn how to evaluate policy and healthcare delivery options, weigh ethical and scientific principles, and collaborate with professionals in healthcare and other fields to meet patients’ needs.
Clinical hours are essential in any advanced nursing program. Students who enroll in online nurse practitioner programs must complete their hours at a local approved clinical site.
Scholarships and Financial Aid for NP Programs in Alabama
One of the main ways in which graduate and doctoral programs differ is financial aid. Graduate nursing students may need to secure their own funding via loans, scholarships, and grants. PhD students may qualify for assistantship positions that offer full or partial tuition in addition to a stipend.
Explore scholarship and loan repayment options for Nurse Practitioners in Alabama:
- Alabama Board of Nursing: Grants awarded to graduate students with funds from the Alabama Education Trust Fund
- BestNursingDegree.com: Scholarships of $2,500 awarded four times per year
- NURSE Corps Scholarship Program: Scholarships awarded in exchange for two years of service in a Health Professional Shortage Area
- NHSC Loan Repayment Program: Up to $50,000 of loans forgiven in exchange for two years of service at an NHSC-approved site
Nurse Practitioner Careers in Alabama
Nurse practitioners are licensed on a state-by-state basis, so your options are determined by current Alabama statutes. Per the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Alabama has reduced practice rights for nurse practitioners.
To work with your degree, you need a collaborative agreement with a supervising physician. This is a major area of nursing reform in many states; joining a group like the Nurse Practitioner Alliance of Alabama may give you updates on changing legislation.
Since you need physician supervision to work as a nurse practitioner, you must either work for an existing clinic or employ a physician at your own practice. Your supervising physician must be in relatively close geographic range, as they often need to sign off on paperwork, prescribe certain types of medications, and approve procedures.
If you study primary care as a graduate student, you may work for a general or specialist clinic. Those who study acute care may work in urgent care or emergency care.
Although nurse practitioners must work with physicians in their scope of practice, their flexibility makes them in high demand in Alabama. Between 2012 and 2022, O*Net predicts a 32% increase in nurse practitioner jobs in Alabama (2016). The average salary for an Alabama nurse practitioner is $93,820 per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016).
Nurse practitioners demonstrate competence in a range of areas and settings, reducing healthcare costs and decreasing wait times across Alabama. They are a crucial component of Alabama’s healthcare system.
As a nurse practitioner, you may strengthen your local healthcare community, explore your potential as a healthcare professional, and improve care options for Alabama residents.
Learn more about your educational options by requesting information from Alabama nurse practitioner programs.
