Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner and Family Nurse Practitioner specialties ranked among top 10 in the nation.
In the newly released 2022 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) has remained ranked among the best schools in the nation for its overall Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) programs, out of 597 accredited nursing schools surveyed.
The Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner DNP specialty ranked No. 6 in the nation (No. 2 among public schools of nursing). The focus on gerontology, established at UMSON more than 45 years ago, continues to meet critical provider needs given today’s enormous strain on the physician-based primary care workforce in the United States, the lack of sufficient numbers of geriatricians, and a growing aging population. In 2019 and 2020, graduates earned a 100% pass rate on the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board exam.
And the Family Nurse Practitioner DNP specialty ranked No. 8 in the nation (No. 2 among public schools of nursing). The specialty is offered both in Baltimore and at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland, where the first cohort of students will graduate this May after the specialty was introduced at that location in 2017 in an effort to expand FNP education to better meet the needs of underserved areas in the western, more rural portion of the state.