Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP)

The Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) is prepared as a practitioner who manages the health care of high-risk infants, their families and children up to 2 years of age. This expanded role is performed in collaboration with neonatologists and other pediatric clinicians. The program enables its graduates to assume leadership roles as practitioners in a variety of clinical settings including intensive care nurseries of various levels, newborn nurseries and high-risk follow-up clinics. The program also prepares students to participate in research.

The program provides students with course work and clinical experiences focusing on the care and management of critically ill and convalescent premature and full-term infants. 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, and national professional certification offered by the National Certification Corporation.

The NNP program offers both full-time and part-time study on the Pittsburgh campus. Selected core courses are transmitted via distance education to the Bradford and Johnstown campuses. A post master’s option is also available. The sequence of courses provides for a logical building of the clinical decision making skill necessary to function as a NNP. Clinical experiences may be in a variety of clinical settings which include newborn nurseries, Level III neonatal intensive care nurseries (NICUs) and out-patient clinics. The experiences are designed to provide students with the opportunity to care for children from birth through the first 2 years of life.

Employment opportunities for NNPs are plentiful across the nation. NNPs are primarily employed in 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.

Applicants to the NNP program should have the equivalent of 2 years full-time, recent (within the past 5 years) RN practice experience in the care of critically ill newborns/infants, prior to beginning the clinical courses. It is recommended that the majority of the RN practice experience be obtained in a Level III NICU. Students may enroll in pre-clinical courses while obtaining the necessary practice experience in neonatal nursing.

For more information please contact:

• Donna G. Nativio PhD, CRNP, FAAN
• Associate Professor
• Director of the Family/Adult/Pediatric and Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Programs
• Phone: 412-624-3827
• Email: dgn@pitt.edu