Nurse Practitioner Fellowship & Residency Programs
Nurse practitioners graduate with either a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. They must pass a national board certification exam and become licensed in the state in which they will practice. Unlike most physicians, nurse practitioners are currently not required to attend a formal residency program.
Residencies are a stage in clinical education where a nurse practitioner provides patient care under the supervision of either a physician or another nurse practitioner while being paid a salary. These days, physician residents typically earn $53,000 and $62,000 depending on their specialty (Medscape 2015). Average pay for nurse practitioner residents is unknown, but there is a glaring difference between the two types of programs: NP residencies lack federal funding from sources such as the Centers for Medicare, whereas physician residencies receive this support. This may change in coming years through advocacy efforts of people such as Dr. Margaret Flinter, who founded the country’s first NP residency program and established the basic design. NP residencies feature specialty clinical rotations, supervised hours, and opportunities to serve at partner clinics to diversify experience. As of August 2016, there were 38 of these programs nationwide (MedPage Today 2016).
Although residency programs are not required for nurse practitioners, new graduates may pursue them to enhance their abilities, strengthen their resume, or learn a new subspecialty. Often the term ‘residency’ refers to programs designed to improve skills and seek board certification, while a ‘fellowship’ is designed to teach a subspecialty. Since these programs are relatively new and are still being developed for NPs, there’s still some debate in the NP community over the use of these terms.
Semantics aside, nurse practitioner residencies and fellowships are becoming increasingly popular as hospitals attempt to attract top talent. Below you’ll find a list of nurse practitioner residency programs organized by specialty.
Primary Care & Family Health
- Community Health Care (Washington)
- Community Health Centers (Connecticut)
- Family Health Center of Worcester (Massachusetts)
- Penobscot Community Health Care (Maine)
- UCLA/UCSF/Glide/Union Rescue Mission (California)
- Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic (Oregon & Washington)
Geriatrics
- Atrium Health (North Carolina)
Pediatrics
- Boston Children’s Hospital (Massachusetts)
- Robbie Simpson Fellowship (Tennessee)
Neuroscience
- Capital Health (New Jersey)
Dermatology
- Lahey Clinic (Massachusetts)
Oncology
- MD Anderson Cancer Center (Texas)
- Robbie Simpson Fellowship (Tennessee)
- Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami (Florida)
Cardiology
- Mayo Clinic of Arizona (Arizona)
- Atrium Health (North Carolina)
Emergency
- Carilion Clinic (Virginia)
- Atrium Health (North Carolina)
- Mayo Clinic (Minnesota)
- Jane R. Perlman NP Fellowship (Washington DC)
- University of Rochester Medical Center (New York)
Psychiatry
- Duke University and the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (North Carolina)
- Atrium Health (North Carolina)
- Mayo Clinic (Minnesota)
Acute Care
- Emory Center for Critical Care (Georgia)
- Columbia University Medical Center (New York)
- Mayo Clinic (Minnesota)
- Atrium Health (North Carolina)
Surgery
- St. Luke’s University Health Network (Pennsylvania)
- University of Maryland Medical Center (Maryland)
- Atrium Health (North Carolina)
- University of California San Francisco (California)
Palliative Care
- Massachusetts General Hospital (Massachusetts)
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York)
- Atrium Health (North Carolina)
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
- American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (Virginia)
- John Hopkins University (Maryland)
Rural Health
- Carilion Clinic – Urgent Care & Rural Health (Virginia)

Dr. Melissa DeCapua, DNP, PMHNP-BC
Author
Melissa DeCapua is a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner who graduated from Vanderbilt University. She has a background in child and adolescent psychiatry as well as psychosomatic medicine. Uniquely, she also possesses a bachelor’s degree in studio arts, which she uses to enhance patient care, promote the nursing profession, and solve complex problems. Melissa currently works as the Healthcare Strategist at a Seattle-based health information technology company where she guides product development by combining her clinical background and creative thinking. She is a strong advocate for empowering nurses, and she fiercely believes that nurses should play a pivotal role in shaping modern health care. For more about Melissa, check out her blog www.melissadecapua.com and follow her on Twitter @melissadecapua.
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