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Caring for a sick newborn demands specialized skill and commitment. UMKC offers a neonatal nurse practitioner graduate program to educate leaders in newborn health care. The online program is focused on health management of the neonate and their family. However students will also graduate with a broad base of knowledge including nursing theory, research, cultural diversity, health policy, ethics and leadership related to the role of the advanced practice nurse. Graduates of the accredited program are qualified to sit for the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Board Exam offered by the National Certification Corporation.
Quick facts
Official name
Master of science in nursing with an emphasis in neonatal nurse practitionerCampus
Program type
Master's degreeAcademic home
School of Nursing and Health StudiesDelivery mode
Blended, some campus visits requiredAccreditation
Higher Learning Commission, Commission on Collegiate Nursing EducationCredit hours
45Estimated cost
$40,213.80*This cost is for illustrative purposes only. Your hours and costs will differ, depending on your transfer hours, your course choices and your academic progress. See more about tuition and financial aid.
Career prospects
Graduates take the national certification exam for their specialty and practice as a nurse practitioner in any area of the United States.
Program structure
Delivery of this program is blended: You will complete most course work online, but on-campus visits are required. Courses are semester-based. Full-time students may take three courses per semester and finish in two years. Part-time students may take one or two courses per semester and finish in three years.
Course work includes
- Physiology/pathophysiology of the neonate
- Health care policy and advocacy
- Neonatal nursing
- Cultural diversity and values
- Health promotion, across the lifespan
Delivery
Blended, some campus visits requiredCalendar system
SemesterTypical program length
2-3 yearsTypical course load
1-2 courses per semesterAccreditation
The University of Missouri-Kansas City is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.
The MS at the School of Nursing and Health Studies is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
Faculty spotlight
Nancy Willis-Smith has worked with UMKC since 2003. She started in Joplin, MO with the distance program, became the Joplin Site Coordinator in 2010 and became the family nurse practitioner track coordinator in 2016. She is double certified as a family nurse practitioner and a women's health nurse practitioner and received her doctor of nursing practice in 2011. She was awarded the "Award of Excellence" for the state of Missouri by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners in 2006. Willis-Smith practices 2 days a week for Ozark's Community Hospital clinics in Webb City and Carthage, MO.
Daphne Reavey is the Track Coordinator for the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program. She has been a faculty member in the University of Missouri-Kansas City Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program for over 20 years. She also practices as an NNP at the Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. She received a diploma in nursing at St. Luke's Hospital in 1985, a BSN at the University of Kansas in 1991, a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner certification in 1995, an MSN at UMKC in 1995 and a PhD at UMKC in 2008. Her research interests include neonatal pain and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome.