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Step 1
The first step is to become a registered nurse (RN).You can't become a nurse practitioner until you become a registered nurse first.
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Step 2
Start your prerequisites required for the nursing school. You can complete these prerequisites at a local community college or university. Most nursing schools require that before you apply to their programs, you have to complete anatomy & physiology with labs, chemistry, english,microbiology,psychology and sociology classes. Before starting these prerequisites, talk to an advisor from the nursing school you want to attend, to be sure about their requirements. Some nursing schools have some placement tests that you must take ( such as HESI test).
You will need approximately one year to finish the prerequisites. -
Step 3
Apply to a Bachelor in Nursing program, preferably an accelerated program. Accelerated programs in nursing take only one year to complete, but, they are very intense. You will not be able to work in the same time you attend an accelerated program in nursing.
After finishing the Bachelor in Nursing program, take the NCLEX-RN test and pass it. -
Step 4
Now that you are a registered nurse, you need to apply to a nurse practitioner program. These are graduate programs, offered by many universities. There is a big chance that even the university where you earned your Bachelor in Nursing degree has a graduate program for nurse practitioners. Some programs ask that you have at least a year experience as a RN, but some don't have this requirement.
The program lasts to one year and a half to two years. -
Step 5
Become licensed as a nurse practitioner by the state in wich you want to practice. Usually the certification criteria are completing of a graduate program for nurse practitioners and certification by the American Nurses' Association. license must be renewed every two or three years depending on the state.
