Online Master's in Nursing (Education)

This course will explore professional role development and interprofessional collaboration of advanced practice nursing. Selected theories and frameworks that guide nursing practice will be analyzed with emphasis on implications for nursing practice. The knowledge, skills and attitudes for the advanced practice nurse are based on AACN Essentials, including person centered care, use of evidence-based guidelines, professional development, quality improvement, safety, and informatics. The course content is designed to align to the specialized advanced nursing practice role.

This course explores the influence of health disparities and promotion of health equity through advocacy for diverse populations. Advanced analysis and evaluation of theories, concepts, and methods related to health equity and disparity, will be examined. The use of technology and informatics will provide data to analyze the relationship between health outcomes and economics, class, gender, sex, sexuality, race, and ethnicity at the advanced practice nurse level. Emphasis is on assessment of the social determinants of health and practitioner-patient interactions related to health outcomes.

This advanced leadership course focuses on the theories and practical application of leadership and healthcare policy for complex healthcare organizations. Special emphasis is placed on organizational leadership and health policy competencies that are needed for nurses to succeed as advanced practice nurse providers, educators, leaders, and managers in today's local, state, national and international health care and/or public health environment. The course content includes identifying emerging issues and the use of innovation and interprofessional relationships to meet ongoing challenges in the healthcare organizational environment.

This course focuses on the integration and application of knowledge into practice. Course content will include research design, statistical methods, and strategies used to facilitate translation of evidence into practice. The Advanced Practice Nurse requires the knowledge to independently search for, review, appraise, and synthesize research literature of particular interest to nursing practice. Students will be prepared to recommend practice changes at the individual- and individual and population level on the strength of the evidence.

This course focuses on the interrelationship between physiology and pathophysiology affecting wellness and disease states across the lifespan. Advanced practice nurses use this knowledge to understand how and why the symptoms and signs of various conditions appear, interpret changes in normal functions that indicate illness, and identify disease prevention strategies. This course serves as the foundation for clinical reasoning skills used for the advanced practice role.

This advanced course fosters an in-depth understanding of pharmacological principles based on evidenced-based guidelines, cultural, socioeconomic, and legal influences and strengthens the ability to use and apply this information across the lifespan. The physiological, biochemical, and anatomical considerations for safe medication administration, including the interaction of drugs and chemicals with body systems, will be presented. Over the counter and complementary and alternative medications will be discussed for certain disease states.

Advanced Health Assessment builds upon previous health assessment experience to provide the foundation for advanced roles in nursing. This course focuses on comprehensive physical assessment which includes in-depth health history, physical and psychological signs and symptoms, and psychosocial and cultural characteristics of the individual, family, and community. Advanced practice nurses use refined communication and assessment skills to adequately gather pertinent information and employ critical thinking skills in clinical decision-making.

Developing curriculum that aligns to the program's mission, standards, and outcomes is important in creating an effective program. Delivering curriculum to a diverse population in an organized fashion, taking into consideration the best modality for delivery, promotes engagement and critical thinking skills. Learners will analyze current trends and issues in curriculum design, evaluate innovations and technologies used to develop engaging curriculum, and determine best practices for course improvement.

Nurse educators count on reliable and valid information to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational program. Thoughtful creation of evaluation tools that align to an educational taxonomy is an important step in order to obtain qualitative and quantitative data that informs the nurse educator about how well learners are performing. Communicating assessment and evaluation results to others, and gaining their input, provides the nurse educator the opportunity to make curricular improvements based on stakeholder feedback. Learners will evaluate assessment methods used to measure performance and improve educational programs, and develop a communication strategy to share results with stakeholders.

This course reflects the culmination of advanced nursing education to synthesize knowledge and skills acquired throughout the MSN Program. The practicum experience requires the student to synthesize and expand the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the program by applying evidence-based research to practice. Students will achieve the MSN program outcomes and competencies related to the AACN-The Essentials-Core Competencies for Advanced Professional Nursing Education.