MSN - Family Nurse Practitioner

During the fall semester of the second year, FNP students enrolled in Advanced Health Assessment, will have five on-campus days. Four of these days will focus on hands-on practice of assessment skills, with faculty guidance and feedback. In addition, students are introduced to simulation technology with OtoSIM and OphthoSIM. One day will be dedicated to a final head-to-toe OSCE assessment.

In a separate on-campus session held at the beginning of the Spring semester of the second year, standardized patients are utilized to provide students with the opportunity to perform sensitive female and male exams in a supportive, formative learning environment.

FNP Skills Intensives take place during the Fall semester of the third year of the program. In these sessions, students learn various skills including suturing techniques, office procedures, interpretation of chest and abdominal radiology, and orthopedic examinations.

The Student Nurses Association (SNA) is an organization for students in all levels of the nursing program to connect at group meetings and through a variety of community service projects. The group is guided by two full-time nursing faculty members.

The goals of the graduate nursing program are to:

1. Prepare registered professional nurses to meet current and future health care needs of populations through advanced nursing practice and transformative leadership  grounded in Mercy values.
2. Provide a foundation for research or practice-focused doctoral study in nursing.

The MSN program outcomes are to:

1. Synthesize and translate established and evolving advanced specialty nursing knowledge and ways of knowing, including knowledge from other disciplines, to inform practice and clinical decision-making.
2. Demonstrate leadership in designing, providing and coordinating comprehensive care that is holistic, inclusive, compassionate, evidence-based, and developmentally appropriate to protect, promote, and optimize health outcomes. 
3. Implement established and evolving methods to appraise and design population health strategies across the healthcare delivery continuum from prevention to disease management through collaborative activities with both traditional and non-traditional partnerships to address health policies and social determinants of health for the improvement of equitable population health outcomes.
4. Synthesize, translate, apply, and disseminate research and evidence-based practice into advanced nursing practice specialties to improve health and transform health care.
5. Develop and lead initiatives utilizing established and emerging principles of safety and improvement science to enhance quality of care and to minimize risk of harm to patients and providers, through both system effectiveness and individual performance.
6. Engage in interprofessional relationships and intentional collaboration with care team members, patients, families, communities, and other support systems, to promote high quality, safe patient care, enhance the healthcare experience, and improve outcomes.
7. Analyze health care systems to effectively and proactively coordinate resources to
   provide safe, quality, cost-effective, and equitable care to diverse populations.
8. Apply current and evolving technologies and informatics to interpret aggregated data, inform decision making, and provide, document, and evaluate outcomes of care in the advanced management and improvement of the delivery of healthcare services, in accordance with best professional practice and regulatory standards
9. Model a professional identity that reflects advanced nursing practice specialty characteristics and values of ethical behavior, accountability, civility, respect, collaborative disposition, excellence, compassion, service, hospitality, and integrity.
10. Demonstrate evolving professional nursing leadership to foster and promote personal health, resilience, and well-being, contribute to lifelong learning, and support the acquisition of nursing expertise and leadership development in self and others across the profession. 

The baccalaureate degree program in nursing and master's degree program in nursing at Saint Xavier University are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).

Because of the rigorous standards necessary to earn and maintain accredited status, CCNE-accredited nursing schools like SXU's School of Nursing give prospective students greater confidence in the education they will receive. Earning a nursing degree from a CCNE-accredited program will also assure employers of the value of your education.

Ranked No. 2 in the Nation for Best Online Graduate Nursing Program (2025) by U.S. News & World Report.

These distinctions help give you confidence in the professional nursing development you will experience as a student at Saint Xavier University, and they will demonstrate the full value of your degree to employers, peers, and patients.

SXU's online Family Nurse Practitioner program emphasizes health promotion, disease prevention, and management of common and complex health problems across the lifespan.

Graduates are eligible to take the family nurse practitioner certification exam administered by ANCC or AANP.

• The curriculum of the FNP program embodies the Mercy heritage and mission of Saint Xavier University: to educate persons to search for truth, to think critically, to communicate effectively and to serve wisely and compassionately in support of human dignity and the common good.
• The program can be completed in three years of full-time study. Six credit hours or more during a semester is considered a full-time courseload.
• The program format is online with scheduled, intermittent synchronous class sessions and on-campus FNP Skills Intensives which occur in the second and third year of the program. Some courses require synchronous testing with dates published in advance.
• Small class sizes, most taught by SXU full-time faculty, provide students with more personal attention.
• FNP faculty members integrate evidence-based practice throughout the curriculum and maintain active clinical practice.
• Our faculty and graduate staff will assist students in identifying appropriate practicum sites and preceptors.
• Each student is assigned a graduate advisor.
• The pass rate on the national FNP certification exam for graduates of SXU's FNP program has been 100% for the past five years.
• FNP students are eligible to apply for a variety of scholarships. Generous tuition discounts are offered to nurses employed by SXU clinical partner agencies.
• A post-master's certificate is available for students who already have a master's in nursing. Program of study is individualized.

*We accept FNP applications from Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Please view the admission requirements to learn how to enroll and begin the application process.