Nursing (Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner)

The pediatric acute nurse practitioner (AC-PNP) role is designed to meet the specialized physiologic and psychological need of children with complex acute and chronic health conditions. AC-PNPs respond to rapidly changing clinical conditions, including the recognition and management of emerging health crises, organ dysfunction and failure. In accordance with this practice focus, AC-PNP role activities encompass a wide range of NP practice strategies including contributions to the management of children's illness/health states, the client-nurses relationship, the teaching-coaching function, the professional role, managing and negotiating healthcare delivery systems, monitoring and ensuring the quality of health care practice, providing family centered care, and demonstrating cultural competency. The short-term goal of care is stabilization of the child, minimizing complications, and providing physical and psychological care measures. The long-term goal of care is to restore maximal health potential through implementation of NP strategies to reduce health risks. The continuum of care spans the geographic settings of the home, emergency departments, hospitals, sub-specialty clinics, and intensive care units.

The Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner BS to DNP hybrid program is 3 years and 9 months full-time. Part-time option is available.

The program is divided into 4 parts:

1- Core Courses- Most of the DNP Program Core courses and the prerequisite clinical courses require that students participate on-campus for 4 to 8 hours during Seminar Week in the middle of each quarter. Students are also required to be on campus to take all course exams including the midterm and final exams. 

• NGRD 657 – Intermediate Statistics – has four mandatory synchronous class meetings during each quarter and students are required to participate in them either face-to-face or by Zoom. Students must attend take the midterm exam and the final exam on campus during scheduled face-to-face meetings. Additional optional group sessions held both face-to-face and by Zoom are available for students enrolled in NGRD 657.
• NGRD 624 – Advanced Health Assessment – has mandatory synchronous lab meetings every two weeks during the quarter. Students must attend each of these sessions. The faculty coordinate the course exams including the midterm and final exams so that they are scheduled when the student is on campus for a scheduled lab session.

2- Concentration Courses: Pharmacology I & II, and Advanced Pathophysiology meet up to four times a quarter.

3- Clinical Experience: The clinical experience is a combination of clinician hours and DNP Project hours to total at least 1000 hours. Students in the CNS and NP clinical courses will be assigned clinical rotations in the Inland Empire (IE) region of Southern California (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties). The CNS and NP Program faculty members arrange all clinical rotations for students as required by the California Board of Registered Nursing Regulations (Sections 1484, h (11) of Division 14 of Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations). The CNS and NP clinical courses meet at least four (4) times per quarter face-to-face on campus and all exams are administered on campus. The NP Program skills courses meet weekly during the quarter that the skills course is scheduled. Attendance at each of the assigned labs is mandatory for students enrolled in the skills course.

4- DNP Project: The DNP Project can be done in the workplace allowing students to collect evidence-based research data.

Each of Loma Linda University's eight schools evaluates the academic qualifications of individual applicants. Every effort is made to maximize the educational experience of international students during their time at Loma Linda University. In order to accomplish this, you must apply online and arrange for complete official transcripts, diplomas and/or certificates are needed to verify an applicant's educational background and qualifications. These documents, acquired from each educational institution attended by the applicant, must be sent directly to a credential evaluation service in the U.S. The credential evaluation service should be instructed to forward their evaluations to Loma Linda University records office at the following address:

Admissions Questions

Contact the admissions office with any questions you have about how to fill out the online application or about the application process:

School of Allied Health Professions: [email protected]
School of Behavioral Health: [email protected]
School of Dentistry: [email protected]
School of Dentistry, Advanced Dental Education: [email protected]
School of Nursing: [email protected]
School of Medicine, MD: [email protected]
School of Medicine, Basic Sciences: [email protected]
School of Pharmacy: [email protected]
School of Public Health: [email protected]
School of Religion: [email protected]

AC-PNPs are prepared for careers in a variety of settings, including emergency departments, hospitals, sub-specialty clinics, and intensive care units.