Explore Nurse Practitioner Specialties
Choosing the right NP specialty is an important step in shaping your career and impact on patient care. With high demand across all NP specialties, now is an ideal time to pursue your path. Whether you’re passionate about primary care, acute care, pediatrics, mental health, or working with specific populations, our NP programs provide specialized education and hands-on clinical training to prepare you for success in whichever area you choose.
Use the chart below to explore and compare NP specialties, understand each distinct role, and discover the best fit for your professional goals.
Specialty |
Responsibilities |
Patient Population |
Level of Acuity |
Healthcare Settings |
Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP (AGACNP) |
Treatment of acute and critical illnesses, and complex chronic conditions |
Late adolescents, adults, and older adults with acute and critical illness |
High |
Hospital critical care units, medical-surgical units, specialty clinics |
Adult-Gerontology Primary Care NP (AGPCNP) |
Primary care, health promotion, disease prevention, chronic disease management, and treatment of episodic illness or injury |
Mid-adolescents, adults, and older adults |
Low to moderate |
Primary care clinics, long-term care facilities, nursing homes, home healthcare |
Family NP (FNP) |
Primary care, including women’s health; health promotion, disease prevention, chronic disease management, and treatment of episodic illness or injury, |
Infants to older adults |
Low to moderate |
Primary care clinics, urgent care, school-based health clinics, outpatient clinics, private practices |
Psychiatric Mental Health NP (PMHNP) |
Prevention and treatment of mental health conditions and psychiatric disorders, individual and group psychotherapy, and medication management |
Children to older adults with mental health conditions and psychiatric disorders |
Moderate to high |
Inpatient and outpatient psychiatry programs and mental health clinics, community and behavioral health clinics, chemical dependency clinics, school-based clinics, private practices |
Pediatric Primary Care NP (PNP-PC) |
Pediatric primary care, including well-child care, chronic disease management, basic behavioral health, developmental assessments, and treatment of episodic illness or injury |
Infants to late adolescents |
Low to moderate |
Pediatric clinics, pediatric hospitals, school-based health centers, outpatient clinics, private practices |
Pediatric/Neonatal NP (PNP-NNP) |
Neonatal and pediatric care, neonatal critical care, and well-child exams |
PNP: Newborns to late adolescents
NNP: Preterm neonates to age 2 |
Moderate to high |
Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), pediatric clinics, pediatric hospitals |
Pediatric Acute Care NP (PNP-AC) |
Treatment of complex, critical, and chronic illnesses, disabilities, or injuries; stabilization of critically ill pediatric patients |
Infants to late adolescents with acute and critical conditions |
High |
Pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), pediatric inpatient units, pediatric emergency departments, pediatric urgent care facilities, pediatric trauma centers, pediatric specialty areas |