The mission of the Family Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant (FNP/PA) Program
is to educate healthcare professionals to deliver care as a member of a healthcare team and to improve the availability of culturally relevant primary healthcare in underserved populations throughout California.  Graduates possess the ability to evaluate the health status of an individual, diagnose and treat acute illness, manage chronic diseases, deliver preventive care, and counsel individuals on psychosocial problems in collaboration with a supervising physician. The FNP/PA Program is a program in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, at UC Davis. The California Board of Registered Nursing approves the FNP Program. The PA Program is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) and is approved by the Physician Assistant Committee (PAC) of the Medical Board of California. There is currently no accrediting body for nurse practitioner programs.

In 1991 the FNP Program affiliated with California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) to provide a Master of Science degree in Nursing (MSN) option for FNP students who possess a bachelor's degree. The Commision on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredits the master's program through CSUS.

FNP and PA students attend classes together at the Sacramento Teaching Center. They obtain their clinical training in their home communities and travel to the teaching center for didactic sessions. FNP-MSN students concurrently attend some CSUS classes in addition to program classes. Distance education delivery through video and lecture is available to reduce travel to the CSU Sacramento campus.

The FNP/PA Program is clinically based and designed for individuals who have been working in the healthcare field.  It combines didactic learning and clinical experience. The student is enrolled as a special status student in the UC Davis School of Medicine for eight quarters. A certificate of completion is awarded to the student upon successful completion of the program. Both FNP and PA graduates may elect to receive a PA certificate and only FNP graduates receive an FNP certificate. The FNP/PA Program does not offer a degree and is not considered a transfer program.  

The FNP/PA Program is a 24 month full-time program, with no mechanism for part-time enrollment. The program begins with summer quarter each year. During the first summer, classes are a combination of Web-based courses and onsite classes taught in Sacramento. Thereafter, didactic sessions are conducted at the Sacramento teaching center three to five days each month during the first year.  When not attending classes, the student spends a minimum of two or three eight-hour days per week obtaining clinical experience in the office of a physician preceptor.

Second-year students begin the summer quarter with two online (distance) courses. During the next two quarters, all didactic classes continue three to five days per month and clinic work continues, usually at the same clinical site where the student completed the first year of the program. During the fourth quarter, attendance in classes decreases and clinical time increases to near full-time. Additionally, clinical experience is required in acute hospital in-patient, surgery, long-term care and emergency-trauma medicine. Readings, writing assignments and examinations are extensive throughout the entire program, requiring 30-40 hours study time per week.

FNP graduates are eligible for PA certification only if they complete the additional clinical hours and rotations required for completion of the Physician Assistant track.  Distance delivery through video and lecture is provided to reduce travel to Sacramento. Contact Duane DeAmicis at (916) 734-1491 if interested in the FNP option.

The opportunity to enroll in the FNP MSN Track curriculum is available to licensed registered nurses who possess a bachelor’s degree. Eligible applicants must apply specifically to the FNP Master's Track of the UC Davis FNP/PA Program.  Students completing the Master’s Track of this program may elect to receive one or two certificates of completion from the UC Davis School of Medicine Department of Family and Community Medicine (one for the FNP Program and one for the PA Program) and a Master of Science degree in Nursing from CSUS.

A three-year option is available for FNP applicants. During the first year, students take MSN courses in the evening at CSUS. During the second year students take their first year of FNP courses at UC Davis. During the third year, students take evening courses at CSUS, as well as completing their second year of UC Davis FNP courses. This flexible schedule allows the student more time to complete graduate level research and a master’s thesis. If you have questions about this option, please contact Duane DeAmicis at (916) 734-1491 or e-mail inquiry to: fnppa@ucdavis.edu

This curriculum consists of 112.5 quarter units over eight quarters with courses in:

• Advanced Principles of Primary Health Care
• Behavioral Science
• Ethics
• Family Practice
• Family Theory
• Fundamentals of Primary Health Care (medicine)
• Geriatric Medicine
• Health Assessment
• Health Care of the Western Farmworker
• Pharmacology
• Professional Development
• Clinical Preceptorships
• Clinical Geriatrics
• In-patient Rotation
• Surgery Rotation

The curriculum includes most of the PA curriculum in addition to the following courses taken at CSUS:

• Nursing Theory
• Nursing Issues & Ethics
• Nursing Research A & B
• Health Policy
• Educational Program Development in Nursing
• Community Health
• Thesis/Project

Currently, courses at CSUS are taught in the evening through distance-learning modalities. This combined FNP-MSN curriculum consists of 120 quarter units over eight quarters (28.5 quarter units from CSUS and 91.5 quarter units at UC Davis).