Family Health Care Nursing

Our mission is to optimize the health and well-being of children, women, and families in a changing multicultural society through our nursing programs of teaching, research, and practice, as well as through community service.

Education
Research
Practice

Education

We prepare graduates to be expert clinicians, conduct quality research, and demonstrate effective leadership that emanates from a spirit of inquiry and a commitment to life-long learning.

Specialties

UCSF School of Nursing, Master of Science (M.S.) Program
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO

Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (ACPNP)

The ACPNP program trains students to work in hospital-based pediatric acute care areas, PICU, Pediatric Cardiac ICU, Pediatric Emergency Department, and program-based specialties that manage acutely ill patients from the outpatient setting through inpatient, to discharge.
Advanced Practice Neonatal Nursing (APNN)

The goal of the neonatal nursing specialty is to educate nurses for leadership roles as primary and acute care providers for neonates and infants. We offer the only Neonatal Nurse Practitioner program between Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. Graduates of the neonatal graduate nursing specialties have successfully obtained advanced practice positions in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the nation.
Advanced Practice Pediatric Nursing (APPN)

The APPN program prepares students to become clinical experts and leaders in the care of children and adolescents in ambulatory settings, focusing on underserved populations. Our students work with children across the health continuum, from essentially healthy children to those with chronic and life limiting conditions. Our graduates work as pediatric nurse practitioners in primary care and school-based health centers, with a majority working in specialty practice.
Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)

The Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) meets the health care needs of the family by providing health assessments, direct care, and guidance, teaching, or counseling as appropriate, particularly around family self-care. The FNP typically works collaboratively with family primary care physicians and other professionals within the health care system.
Nurse Midwifery / Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner

Nurse-midwives provide primary care to childbearing women in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings including hospitals, homes, and birth centers. They provide care from a core belief that birth is not a medical event, but a very normal physiologic process.
Perinatal Nursing

**NOTE: The Perinatal Program is not accepting MS or MEPN applications for the 2012-13 academic year. We will continue to consider Post-Master’s certificate applications on a case-by-case basis.** The perinatal period is the period "around birth," meaning the time of pregnancy, birth, and the first few days or weeks of life as a new or growing family. Perinatal clinical nurse specialists help meet the essential maternal and fetal health needs during this crucial time for the family's long-term health and well-being.

Research

We promote health and optimal development of children, women and families across the lifespan; prevent illness in these populations; and develop interventions that address their responses to health and illness. Basic clinical and translational studies may be conducted with individuals, family member dyads, the family unit or local and global communities. There is an emphasis on inclusion of participants from diverse backgrounds.

OUR RESEARCH FACULTY:

Abbey Alkon, RN, PhD, PNP, FAAN

Mary Barger, RN, PhD, CNM, FACNM

Jyu-Lin Chen, RN, PhD

Catherine (Kit) Chesla, RN, DNSc, FAAN

Linda Franck, RN, PhD, FRCPCH, FAAN

Janice Humphreys, RN, PhD, PNP, FAAN

Christine Kennedy, RN, PhD, PNP, FAAN

Susan Kools, RN, PhD, FAAN

Kathryn Lee, RN, PhD, FAAN

Audrey Lyndon, RN, PhD, CNS

Sally Rankin, RN, PhD, FAAN

Roberta Rehm, RN, PhD

Lisa Thompson, RN, PhD, FNP

OUR RESEARCH AREAS:

Childhood Health and Development
Developmental Transitions in Vulnerable Children and Adolescents	Roberta Rehm Transition to Adulthood Plans Studies Susan Kools Improving Health and Development of Adolescents in Foster Care
Ensuring Health of Children in Child Care	Abbey Alkon State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Grant
Health Compromising Behaviors in Children	Christine Kennedy Fathers' Beliefs and Practices Regarding Media; Interactive Videogaming for Physical Activity Motivation in Overweight Children
Obesity Prevention and Treatment	Jyu-Lin Chen iStart Smart: Healthy Weight Management for Chinese-American Children; Childhood Obesity in Young Chinese Children; Active Balance Childhood for Chinese-American Children Abbey Alkon NAP SACC Intervention Study in Child Care Centers
Promoting School Readiness	Abbey Alkon State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Grant
Psychobiological Aspects of Health
Adversity, Psychobiology and Health	Abbey Alkon Cohort Study of Latino Farmworker’s Children
Environmental Effects on Health and Development	Lisa Thompson Environmental perspectives on healthy households in rural Peru; NACER: Neurodevelopment and growth of infants exposed to household air pollution in Guatemala; Provision of Reproductive Health Services by Traditional Birth Attendants in Rural Guatemala
Health Effects of Violence and Trauma	Janice Humphreys Trauma Exposure and the Health of Women in Three Countries Lifetime Trauma Exposure, Chronic Pain, Depression and PTSD in Mexican Women
Sleep and Circadian Rhythm	Mary Barger Sleep, Fatigue, and Timing of Post-Dates Labor Inductions; Role of CPAP in Pregnant Women with Sleep Disordered Breathing Kathy Lee
Stress Prevention and Management: Physical Activity	Christine Kennedy Reducing Television to Improve Health in Latina Mothers and Preschool Children
Symptom Management: Pain, Fatigue	Linda Franck Parent Involvement and Support in the NICU; Reducing Childhood Immunization Distress Kathy Lee
Safety and Quality of Health Care
Child Care Health and Safety	Abbey Alkon State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Grant
Family Involvement in Neonatal/ Pediatric Hospitalization	Linda Franck Parent Involvement and Support in the NICU; Stress and Coping of Families of Children in Hospital
Perinatal Safety and Teamwork	Audrey Lyndon Scope and Circadian Variation of Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality in California; Exploring the Nurse’s Role in Perinatal Patient Safety
Reducing Maternal Morbidity	Mary Barger Uterine Rupture among Women with an Unscarred Uterus; Availability of Trial of Labor after Cesarean among California Hospitals
Family Systems and Health
Family Interventions in Chronic Illness	Kit Chesla CBPR with Immigrant Chinese with Diabetes
Health, Education and Family life of Children with Chronic Conditions	Roberta Rehm Transition to Adulthood Plans Studies Linda Franck Stress and coping of families of children in hospital
Violence Prevention – Family, Intimate Partner	Janice Humphreys
Health Disparities Science
Culturally Informed Healthcare	Mary Barger Availability of Trial of Labor after Cesarean among California Hospitals
Interventions to Reduce Disparities	Kit Chesla CBPR with Immigrant Chinese with Diabetes
Global Health and Workforce	Sally Rankin Malawi Christians and Muslims: HIV Prevention and AIDS Care; Building the Nursing Workforce & Nurse Training Capacity in Malawi; Promoting Global Health for Health Care Professionals in Malawi, Zambia, Alabama and California Lisa Thompson Environmental perspectives on healthy households in rural Peru; Service-Learning and Health Equity Research in a Nursing Baccalaureate Program in Hawaii; NACER: Neurodevelopment and growth of infants exposed to household air pollution in Guatemala; Provision of Reproductive Health Services by Traditional Birth Attendants in Rural Guatemala

Research Areas

Practice

We promote clinical excellence, innovation, and scholarship in support of the education of students, with a particular emphasis on learning to provide care to diverse and underserved populations.