Overview

In the health care field, you’ve found your calling — caring for pediatric patients. From your bachelor of science in nursing credential, you now strive to make a greater impact and address the influx of acutely ill patients, including infants and children with complex conditions. Expand your skills to face the challenge while establishing your leadership expertise by enrolling in the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s online master of science in nursing (MSN) program’s acute care pediatric nurse practitioner (ACPNP) option. Gain the knowledge to influence care quality and delivery in specialist, critical care, emergency, rehabilitation and early intervention environments while assisting families and guiding patients’ growth and development.

A blended format helps you reach your goal around existing obligations. You’ll complete course work online, attend select on-campus sessions and apply what you’ve learned in clinical assignments. Completion of the online MSN with an acute care pediatric nurse practitioner option prepares you to sit for American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB) certification exams.

Due to the desired outcome and curriculum, candidates considering the ACPNP option must have at least two years of full-time pediatric clinical experience from the past three years and a current license. 

About the profession and program

Your professional experience already offers some insight: health care organizations need pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) to provide family-centered, culturally sensitive care to patients from birth to age 21. A type of advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), PNPs either specialize in primary care or acute care.

In general, pediatric nurse practitioners oversee the delivery and quality of acute, chronic, complex and wellness care and play a role in health promotion, disease prevention, counseling and health education. UMKC’s ACPNP equips you to make a difference by focusing on restorative care for pediatric patients living with rapidly changing critical conditions. Through online course work and clinical experiences with preceptors in community, inpatient and outpatient settings, you’ll:

• Learn to provide care for patients with unstable chronic, complex, acute and critical conditions
• Understand how to promote health and wellness and oversee assessment, diagnosis and management of patient care, including prescribing pharmacologic agents
• Refine your decision-making skills to improve clinical care delivery in a leadership, yet collaborative role
• Understand how to provide quality care to pediatric patients through theory, evidence-based practice, research and clinical skills
• Be able to assist or provide care in diagnostic assessments, monitoring and therapy to decrease complications and risk factors

Developing programs for today’s health care landscape, UMKC strives to graduate competent nursing professionals ready to lead, think critically, continually grow their skills and serve others in complex and diverse medical settings. For our nationally ranked MSN program, the School of Nursing and Health Studies started pioneering distance learning over two decades ago and continues to refine course work in relation to health care and technology developments. 

Our online MSN program with an acute care pediatric nurse practitioner option not only serves as a stepping stone to professional advancement but is supported by:

• A certification exam with a 99% pass rate
• Clinical faculty certified in online learning invested in your success
• An emphasis on leadership, advocacy and delivery of culturally sensitive care
• Curriculum emphasizing the latest care techniques and technologies
• Affordable tuition

Top-ranked programs

UMKC's online master's in nursing programs ranked among the nation's finest in U.S. News & World Report 2024.

Program Structure

The online MSN with an acute care pediatric nurse practitioner option requires 52 total credit hours. You’ll start with a general MSN core designed to strengthen widely applicable competencies before developing a specialty through the ACPNP option.

All online MSN students, regardless of specialty, become well-versed in health promotion and protection along the lifespan, nursing theories and applications and using research to improve care quality and delivery. Along with these points, courses touch on cultural diversity and competency in the context of ethical decision making, health care policy and advocacy concerning cost and access. Across all specialties, the MSN core emphasizes the importance of evidence-based practice guidelines and theory for diagnosing and treating medical conditions, delivering care and upholding wellness.

Online courses are blended, combining both asynchronous and synchronous learning. Expect to attend scheduled class and chat times to engage with your instructors and classmates. For ACPNP students, the online MSN requires an on-campus residency each semester during your clinical course sequence. Faculty and your adviser will inform you of these dates ahead of time to help you make arrangements.

Through this two-part format and clinical requirement, you’ll advance what you know about pathophysiology, pharmacology, physical and health assessments, health promotion, disease prevention, differential diagnosis and disease management.

Courses for the online MSN with an acute care pediatric nurse practitioner option start during the spring and summer semester. Plan for one residency per clinical course. Students attending full time take three courses per semester to finish in two years. On a part-time schedule, you’ll take one to two courses per semester to finish in three years.

Course work includes:

• The ethics involved in advanced nursing practice
• Pharmacology principles
• Managing complex acute, critical and chronically ill patients
• Collecting and documenting patient health and physical assessments
• The skills for conducting advanced health and physical assessments
• Physiological function from cellular to organ levels and related dysfunctions
• Clinical pharmacotherapies
• Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
• Overseeing common pediatric health concerns

Courses

Core courses
NURSE 5526 Health Promotion Across the Lifespan (3 credit hours)
NURSE 5527 Cultural Diversity & Values (3 credit hours)
NURSE 5528 Healthcare Policy and Advocacy (3 credit hours)
NURSE 5550 Theoretical Foundations in Nursing (3 credit hours)
NURSE 5555 Nursing Research (3 credit hours)

Additional required courses
NURSE 5529 Ethics in Advanced Practice & Research (3 credit hours)
NURSE 5531 Graduate Pharmacology Specialty (2 credit hours)
NURSE 5532 Acute Care of Pediatric Clinical I (7 credit hours)
NURSE 5533 Acute Care of Pediatric Clinical II (7 credit hours)
NURSE 5544 Advanced Health Assessment Skills (2 credit hours)
NURSE 5547C Diagnostic Reasoning/Advanced Assessment (3 credit hours)
NURSE 5548 Advanced Pathophysiology Across the Lifespan (3 credit hours)
NURSE 5549R Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics: Application for Graduate-Prepared Nurses (1 credit hour)
NURSE 5549 Pharmacology Across the Life Span for Advanced Nursing Practice (3 credit hours)
NURSE 5564C Primary Care of Children I (5 credit hours)
NURSE 5601 Clinical Institute I (1 credit hour)

Nondegree-Seeking Enrollment

Prior to acceptance into the program, you may enroll in up to 6 credit hours as a nondegree-seeking (in some cases, post-baccalaureate) student. Enrollment does not guarantee acceptance. Learn more about nondegree-seeking university student admissions.

State Authorization

States require that the University of Missouri-Kansas City be authorized to deliver university-level distance/online education to their residents. Each state handles this process differently.

Please see our state authorization page for more information.

Not authorized

Students residing in some states are not eligible to enroll in this program. See our state authorization page for a full list of states in which this program is not authorized.

Authorized with stipulations

Students residing in some states may be eligible to enroll in this program, but certain stipulations exist. See our state authorization page for a full list of states in which certain stipulations exists for this program.

How to Apply

Fulfill the admission requirements

A minimum of one-year, full-time equivalent clinical experience within the past three years is required for admission.

• Minimum of two years, full-time equivalent clinical experience within the past three years
• BSN from a college or university nationally recognized by a nursing accrediting agency (CCNE or AACN)
• Minimum GPA of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale (calculated on the last 60 hours of your BSN degree).
• Current unencumbered Missouri licensure or unencumbered licensure in the state in which the student completes clinical requirements
• Minimum grade of B in these prerequisite courses: graduate-level statistics and free-standing undergraduate health assessment course. These courses may be taken during the first semester of MSN courses though it is strongly recommended to have them completed prior to applying.
• A personal interview is required.

Required documents

• Transcripts from each institution attended. Upload your official transcripts to the UMKC Office of Admissions ONLY. Please DO NOT submit official transcripts via NursingCAS.
• Three evaluation forms are required from:
  • Immediate supervisor
  • Faculty professor from the last year of your BSN program.
  • Professional reference able to assess your professional characteristics (charge nurse, medical doctor, nurse practitioner, unit director)
  • Please note: No reference from co-workers, patients, friends or family members will be accepted.

• Current résumé reflecting all experiences as an RN
• Proof of RN licensure
• Personal Statement of your professional goals (specific to the role/track to which you are applying) and how this program will help you achieve them (required length: one page maximum)
• Complete an interview.

Complete the online application

The application is a two-step process, applicants must:

1. Submit the online UMKC Application and submit official transcripts from each institution attended to the UMKC Office of Admissions ONLY. Please DO NOT submit official transcripts via NursingCAS.

2. Submit program application and materials through NursingCAS to UMKC’s School of Nursing and Health Studies by deadline stated above. Please review the NursingCAS website for the list of programs offered at UMKC’s School of Nursing and Health Studies.

Domestic application fee: $45.00
International application fee: $75.00

Note: If you were ever enrolled at UMKC as a degree-seeking student, you do not need to resubmit the general UMKC application fee.

Application fee waiver questions: Contact the UMKC Office of Admissions with questions via 816-235-8652 or 1-800-775-8652 or admissions@umkc.edu.

Apply to UMKC

Program Contact

Danny Kopitke Senior Student Recruitment Specialist
Online Programs Phone: 816-235-5693 Email: dkopitke@umkc.edu

Tuition and Fees

The tuition estimates do not include any Nursing clinical fees that may apply to the program. Please refer to UMKC Cashiers for further details.

These estimates are for illustrative purposes only and are based on academic year 2024-2025 information. They include:

• School of Nursing and Health Sciences graduate tuition rate of per credit hour for 52 hours
• Online course fee of per credit hour for 52 hours
• Simulation lab fee of per credit hour for 52 hours