Creighton University offers 3 Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Tracks:
- BSN-to-DNP – Pediatric Primary and Acute Care (Dual)
- MSN-to-DNP – Pediatric Acute Care (with Post-Graduate Certificate)
- Post-Graduate Certificate – Pediatric Acute Care
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| BSN-DNP (Dual) | $73.5K–$74.6K | Not stated | 70–71 |
| MSN-DNP (AC) | $45.2K–$47.3K | Not stated | 43–45 |
| Cert (AC) | $16.8K | Not stated | 16 |
Creighton’s defining advantage is a dual primary/acute care BSN-to-DNP that carries 1,200 clinical hours and qualifies graduates for both PNCB certification exams — a combination few programs offer. Coursework is online, but plan on required campus trips to Omaha and a 2,000-hour pediatric RN experience gate before your first clinical course.
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | BSN-to-DNP (dual PC/AC), MSN-to-DNP + PNP-AC certificate, post-graduate PNP-AC certificate |
| Format | Mostly Online — online coursework; required Omaha campus trips, count varies by track |
| Population Focus | Both — dual PC/AC via BSN-DNP; acute care only for MSN-entry and certificate |
| Clinical Hours | 1,200 (BSN-DNP); 525+ (MSN-DNP); 525 (certificate) |
| Clinical Placement | Self-arranged preceptors (stated for certificate); placement requests due up to 4 months early |
| Distinctive Coursework | Pediatric urgent/emergency care, care of the critically ill child, negotiation and conflict resolution |
| RN License Requirements | Active, unencumbered RN with Nebraska eligibility; APRN license for MSN-entry general track |
| RN Experience Requirements | 2,000 hours pediatric direct care (BSN-DNP); only 500 neonatal hours may count |
| Enrollment Restrictions | Closed to residents of 7–9 states depending on program; international students not admitted |
| Tuition | $1,050/credit + $78/credit fees + $426–$840 program fee per semester |
| Accreditation | CCNE (DNP and post-graduate APRN certificate) |
BSN-to-DNP – Pediatric Primary and Acute Care (Dual Track)
The estimated tuition for the BSN-to-DNP Pediatric Primary and Acute Care dual track at Creighton is approximately $73,500–$74,550 (70–71 credits at $1,050/credit, before fees). Program length is not clearly stated; both full-time and part-time plans are offered, and BSN-to-DNP programs of this size typically run three to four years full time.
BSN-to-DNP Dual Track Curriculum
This is one degree that prepares you for two populations. The curriculum spans the full pediatric continuum — wellness and preventive care on the primary care side, then acute, chronic, and critical illness management on the acute care side — layered over the DNP core (epidemiology, evidence evaluation, health policy, healthcare finance, ethics, and a scholarly project). A distinctive Creighton element across its DNP tracks is a six-credit negotiation and conflict resolution sequence, unusual for an NP curriculum and directly relevant to inpatient care coordination.
A course-by-course plan for the dual track is not published in the source material. Based on the acute care sequence Creighton publishes for its certificate, expect coursework in:
- Care of the pediatric patient in urgent/emergency settings
- Care of the acute and chronically ill child
- Care of the critically ill child
- Progressive pediatric practicums from primary through acute/critical care
- DNP scholarly project and advanced practice residency
BSN-to-DNP Dual Track Clinical Requirements
- 1,200 total clinical hours
- Rotations must cover both populations: primary care settings plus acute, urgent/emergency, and critical care settings
- Preceptor arrangement policy for the DNP is not clearly stated; Creighton’s certificate students arrange their own preceptors, and clinical placement requests are due up to four months before the term
- 2,000 hours of pediatric direct care RN experience required before the first clinical course
1,200 hours sits at the top of the typical 900–1,200 range for dual PC/AC programs and roughly doubles the 500-hour certification floor. That volume is the point: you need enough hours in each population to be competent in both. The practical burden is site variety — you will need pediatric primary care preceptors and inpatient/critical care pediatric preceptors, and pediatric sites are consistently harder to secure than adult sites. If Creighton expects you to arrange your own (verify this before applying), your local access to a children’s hospital matters a lot.
BSN-to-DNP Dual Track Admissions
The pediatric experience gate is the headline requirement: 2,000 hours of direct patient care nursing in pediatrics, and only 500 of those hours can come from neonatal work — heavy NICU nurses cannot substitute NICU time for general pediatric experience.
- BSN from an ACEN- or CCNE-accredited program, minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA
- Active, unencumbered RN license with Nebraska eligibility
- Undergraduate statistics and physical assessment courses with C or higher
- Personal statement, resume/CV, three recommendation letters (one from a supervisor/employer), official transcripts
- Three start terms per year: August (apply by May 1), January (apply by October 1), May (apply by February 1)
- Not open to residents of Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, or Tennessee; Washington residents may enroll in this track
- International students cannot be admitted
MSN-to-DNP – Pediatric Acute Care (with Post-Graduate Certificate)
The estimated tuition for the MSN-to-DNP with the Pediatric Acute Care certificate at Creighton is approximately $45,150–$47,250 (43–45 credits at $1,050/credit, before fees). Program length is not clearly stated; part-time and full-time pacing are both available.
Note the population limit: at the MSN-to-DNP level, Creighton’s pediatric option is acute care only. The dual primary/acute preparation is available exclusively through the BSN-to-DNP.
MSN-to-DNP (AC) Curriculum
This pathway stacks two components. The post-graduate DNP core (26–28 credits) covers doctoral-level scholarship and leadership; the 16-credit PNP-AC certificate adds the specialty and its clinicals. Your first-semester advisor builds an individualized plan from your prior graduate coursework, so credits and clinical hours can shift after transcript review.
DNP Core
- Epidemiology; Evaluative Methods for Evidence-Based Practice
- DNP Scholarly Project (6 credits, taken in increments)
- Health Care Policy and Law; Financial Organization of U.S. Healthcare
- Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (6 credits); ethics coursework
- Residency: Advanced Practice Nurse (2–4 credits)
PNP-AC Specialty Sequence
- Care of the Pediatric Patient in the Urgent/Emergency Setting
- Care of the Acute and Chronically Ill Child
- Care of the Critically Ill Child
- Three progressive acute care practicums
More curriculum details are available here.
MSN-to-DNP (AC) Clinical Requirements
- 525 clinical hours minimum; hours may increase after review of prior graduate coursework
- The DNP itself requires a minimum of 1,000 credited post-baccalaureate clinical hours — documented hours from your MSN count toward this, and your residency credits are sized to fill any gap
- Preceptor arrangement policy not clearly stated for the DNP; certificate students arrange their own
525 hours matches the acute care certificate and clears the 500-hour certification floor, but treat it as a starting number, not a promise — Creighton explicitly reserves the right to add hours based on your transcript. Budget time and money for the possibility.
MSN-to-DNP (AC) Admissions
One restriction stands out: Arizona residents may only enroll in the general MSN-to-DNP track, not the certificate add-on — which effectively closes this pediatric pathway to them.
- MSN from an ACEN- or CCNE-accredited program, minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA
- Active, unencumbered APRN license with Nebraska eligibility (general post-graduate DNP track)
- Graduate-level statistics course with C or higher
- Same document set and start dates as the BSN-to-DNP; same seven-state residency exclusions
Post-Graduate Certificate – Pediatric Acute Care (PNP-AC)
The estimated tuition for the Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner post-graduate certificate at Creighton is approximately $16,800 (16 credits at $1,050/credit, before fees). Program length is not clearly stated; clinical rotations begin immediately in the first term.
Certificate Curriculum
At 16 credits, this is the leanest of Creighton’s APRN certificates — smaller than its FNP (18), AG-ACNP (19), NNP (25), and PMHNP (21) certificates — because it assumes you already hold graduate-level advanced practice coursework. Every course is pediatric acute care: no repeated 3 Ps, no filler. Credits may be adjusted upward after transcript review of your prior graduate clinical coursework.
- NUR 737 Care of the Pediatric Patient in the Urgent/Emergency Setting (2)
- NUR 740 Practicum III: Pediatric Acute and Primary Care, Urgent/Emergency Setting (2)
- NUR 810 Care of the Acute and Chronically Ill Child (4)
- NUR 812 Practicum IV: Pediatric Acute Care NP (2)
- NUR 814 Care of the Critically Ill Child (3)
- NUR 816 Practicum V: Pediatric Acute Care NP II (3)
More curriculum details are available here.
Certificate Clinical Requirements
- 525 direct clinical hours across urgent/emergency, acute, and critical care pediatric settings
- Students find their own preceptors
- Clinical placement requests are due up to four months before the first term — this drives the early application deadlines
- Rotations start immediately upon program entry
525 hours is solid for a single-population certificate — above the 500-hour floor and appropriate for acute care, where competency demands inpatient volume. The self-arranged preceptor model is the real planning issue: pediatric acute care preceptors (PICU, pediatric ED, inpatient units) are among the hardest to find of any NP specialty. If you don’t already work in or near a children’s hospital, start preceptor conversations before you apply, not after.
Certificate Admissions
This certificate is built for APRNs adding a second population — for example, a primary care PNP or FNP moving into inpatient pediatrics.
- Graduate nursing degree with an advanced practice focus required
- Transcript review determines whether additional courses or hours are added
Tuition
All three programs bill $1,050 per credit hour (2026–2027 rate):
- BSN-to-DNP dual: 70–71 credits × $1,050 = about $73,500–$74,550
- MSN-to-DNP (AC): 43–45 credits × $1,050 = about $45,150–$47,250
- PNP-AC certificate: 16 credits × $1,050 = about $16,800
Fees add materially to every estimate above:
- University fee ($57/credit) plus technology fee ($21/credit) — effectively $1,128 per credit all-in, adding roughly $5,500 to the BSN-DNP and $1,250 to the certificate
- Nursing academic program fee each semester: $840 full-time, $426 part-time — part-time pacing stretches this fee across more semesters
- Optional student health insurance: $2,212 per semester
- Tuition is reviewed annually; new rates take effect each summer term, so multi-year students should expect increases
- Budget travel costs for required Omaha campus trips
Realistically, plan on an all-in direct cost several thousand dollars above the headline tuition — roughly $80,000+ for the dual BSN-DNP once per-credit fees and semester program fees are included.
Current rates are posted on Creighton’s graduate tuition page.
Why Choose This PNP Program?
Best suited for pediatric RNs who want doctoral preparation covering both primary and acute care, and for practicing APRNs who need an efficient route into pediatric acute care.
The dual BSN-to-DNP is the strongest reason to pick Creighton. Graduating eligible for both the CPNP-PC and CPNP-AC exams means you can work a subspecialty clinic, an inpatient service, or a role that spans both — flexibility a single-population PNP doesn’t have. The 1,200 clinical hours back that up with real volume in each setting. The trade-offs are equally concrete: a hard 2,000-hour pediatric RN experience requirement (with NICU time capped at 500 hours), roughly $80,000 all-in, unspecified Omaha travel, and residency exclusions in seven states.
Choosing between entry points is mostly decided for you. BSN-prepared nurses get the dual track; MSN-prepared APRNs get acute care only, either as a 16-credit certificate or bundled into a DNP. That certificate deserves attention on its own — it is one of the leaner PNP-AC add-ons available, with every credit spent on pediatric acute content. The main caution across all three: preceptors appear to be your responsibility, and pediatric acute care placements are among the hardest to self-arrange. Nurses already embedded in a children’s hospital will have a far easier run than those who aren’t.
Accreditation
The DNP program and the post-graduate APRN certificate program at Creighton University are both accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Creighton states that graduates of the pediatric dual track DNP are eligible to sit for both the primary care and acute care national certification exams through the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB) — CPNP-PC and CPNP-AC respectively — while graduates of the acute care certificate and MSN-to-DNP pathway are eligible for the PNCB acute care exam only. Confirm certification eligibility and your state’s APRN licensure rules in writing before enrolling, particularly if you live in or plan clinicals in a state on Creighton’s restriction lists.
Review More Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Programs Near You
Check out the University of Nebraska Medical Center or compare all PNP programs in Nebraska.