239 Victoria Building

412-624-4586

http://www.nursing.pitt.edu

sao50@pitt.edu

The Nurse Specialty Role Major in Nursing prepares leaders who have specialized skills in the following areas: Nursing Administration, Clinical Nurse Leader Nursing Informatics, and Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. Each of these is designed for experienced nurses who aspire to be leaders within the discipline of nursing. The Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) area of concentration focuses on staff nurses who want to assume a leadership role by remaining at point of care. The CNL assumes responsibility for patient care outcomes by coordinating and supervising the care provided by interdisciplinary team members. The CNL role includes development of skills in precepting, mentoring, and coaching and can be applied in educational as well as clinical settings. The Nursing Administration concentration prepares nurses to function in leadership and management roles at the department or director level. The curriculum builds on students' experiences in direct care nursing roles and provides the knowledge base needed to develop the conceptual, interpersonal, and technical skills required to function in health care management and administration. The Nursing Administration concentration is designed for individuals who wish to make a positive contribution to patient outcomes and service delivery in ways that support and complement direct patient care. The 40 credit online Nursing informatics program specialty combines course work from the fields of cognitive science, computer science, information science, and nursing science. The program includes the development, analysis, and evaluation of information systems augmented by technology that support, enhance and manage patient care. The online program is entirely online and requires no site visits to Pittsburgh. Career opportunities for graduates of this specialty are numerous. Informatics nurses are involved in practice, education, research, administration, and consultation and can work in public, private, or corporate settings. There are three different tracks in the Nursing Informatics specialty program; the 38 credit hour MSN area of concentration, 12 credit hour minor, 15 credit hour post-masters certificate. All may be completed online on a full-time or part-time. Students have an opportunity to observe, apply, analyze, and practice processes and skills in nursing informatics. The Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) is prepared as a clinician who manages the health care of high-risk infants within families, and children up to 2 years of age. This expanded role is performed in collaboration with neonatologists and other pediatric clinicians. Graduates assume leadership roles in a variety of clinical settings including intensive care nurseries of various levels, newborn nurseries and high-risk follow-up clinics. Course work and clinical experiences focus on the care and management of critically ill and convalescent premature and full-term infants. Graduates select and perform diagnostic and therapeutic invasive procedures on newborns in the intensive care setting. Students are also prepared to participate in research.