One prerequisite required for online nurse practitioner training is a current RN license for the state in which you work. Transcripts of all your completed academic coursework and an up-to-date resume detailing your clinical practice experience also need to be submitted, along with letters of reference from previous nurse educators and work colleagues. Some online training programs, such as St. Joseph's College of Maine, may require you have completed a bachelor's degree before enrolling in their nurse practitioner training.
Nurse practitioner online training courses cover core fundamentals, like advanced ethical decision making in health care, biostatistics, health research methods, evidence-based approaches to your practice, advanced pharmacology and advanced physical assessment and diagnostic reasoning. In addition to the coursework, nurse practitioner training programs also require completion of a set number of clinical practice hours. The minimum is 500 hours, and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty advises training programs to set even higher minimums; therefore, some schools may require 600 or more practice hours.
Before enrolling in an online nurse practitioner training program, you should verify whether any residency restrictions apply. For example, Drexel University requires students for its online nurse practitioner program be RN-certified and complete clinical practicums in one of seven states plus Washington, DC. Online programs may also require some on-campus training. Seton Hall University, for instance, "requires three on-campus weekend residency visits which provides students with opportunities to meet face-to-face with professors, peers, and program administrators."
Online nurse practitioner training also allows nurses to specialization in a particular medical specialty or patient group. Some online specialty programs for nurse practitioners include pediatrics, adult care, gerontology, acute care, women's health, primary care, family health and psychiatry. Additional clinical practice hours may be required for specialized certifications, like the 640 hours required for students of Drexel's online psychiatric nurse practitioner program.
After completing the online nurse practitioner training program, you must pass the national nurse practitioner certification exam, as well as any testing required for a specialty training program, like the Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certification exam. In addition, according to RN Degrees, "by 2015, all Nurse Practitioner programs will require a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree." Online nursing training programs, such as Frontier School of Midwifery & Family Nursing, already offer the DNP degree for nurse practitioners and nurse midwives, another popular advanced nursing program.