Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Certificate

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The Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) Post-Professional Certificate is designed for graduate prepared nurse practitioners who are seeking to expand their roles via nurse practitioner certification in neonatal critical care. The NNP is prepared to manage the health care of high-risk infants, within families and children up to 2 years of age. This expanded role is performed in collaboration with neonatologists and other pediatric clinicians. NNPs are primarily employed in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and are involved in coordinating and managing care for infants with chronic health problems and providing continuity for these children from hospital to home.

The NNP curriculum provides students with course work and clinical experiences focusing on the care and management of critically ill and convalescent premature and full-term infants. The sequence of courses provides for a logical building of the clinical decision-making skills necessary to function as a neonatal nurse practitioner. Clinical experiences may be in a variety of clinical settings, which include newborn nurseries, intensive care units of various levels, and out-patient clinics.

Graduates are prepared to perform acts of medical diagnosis and prescribe medical therapeutics and corrective measures. In addition, the NNP selects and performs clinically advanced diagnostic and therapeutic invasive procedures on newborns in the intensive care setting.

Graduates are eligible for both legal certification as a Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner (CRNP) and prescriptive authority by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as other states and national professional certification as an NNP offered by the National Certification Corporation.

Curriculum Format

• Full time or part time (length depends on prior academic preparation)
• 660 clinical hours (neonatal-specific)

Program Outcomes

Graduates of the Post-Professional NNP area of concentration are prepared to accomplish the following:

• Assume responsibility for promoting, maintaining, and restoring health to infants from the newborn period up to 2 years of age
• Identify health risks, promote wellness, and diagnose and manage acute and chronic illness
• Participate in quality improvement projects and provide leadership in mobilizing health care resources in the community

Admission Criteria

• Valid registered nurse license in US State/Territory or location where clinical experiences are performed
• BSN required
• MSN or DNP preparation as a nurse practitioner (from ACEN, NLN, or CCNE accredited program)
• GPA ≥ 3.0 in the MSN or DNP degree
• Equivalent of 2 years full-time, recent (within past 5 years) practice experience as a registered nurse in the care of critically ill newborns, infants or children in critical inpatient settings, primarily in Level III or IV NICU. Applicants must have acquired this experience or be currently employed in the indicated settings.
• Pre-admission interview
• Complete online application
• International applicants: see https://www.nursing.pitt.edu/admissions/international-applicants and www.ois.pitt.edu

Admission of International Applicants

Applications from international students are reviewed according to the admission criteria stated above, and admissions deadlines for all programs are available online. The online application must be completed in English. See the School of Nursing International Applicants page for specific admission requirements.