Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)
Program Objectives & Learning Outcomes

The program defines the following as program objectives and intended student learning outcomes for students enrolled in the MSN program

Objective 1:  Critical thinkers who creatively engage in rational inquiry using nursing processes and current research to improve healthcare outcomes.

• Demonstrate comprehensive professional knowledge of current research to improve health care outcomes:

Competency:  Identify strategies of scientific and mathematical research principles for practical healthcare application.

• Demonstrate comprehensive application of critical thinking using the nursing process:

Competency:  Illustrate critical thinking to develop organized and systematic components of the nursing process.

• Demonstrate an ability to apply comprehensive professional knowledge of the nursing process:

Competency:  Use the nursing process as a purposeful and goal-directed guideline for quality, individually-centered care.

Objective 2:  Nursing professionals dedicated towards advancing a culture of professional excellence and achievement through lifelong learning.

• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the culture of professional excellence in nursing:

Competency:  Promote the nursing culture of excellence in professional nursing practice.

• Demonstrate a comprehensive professional knowledge of nursing culture standards of excellence:

Competency:  Integrate comprehension of nursing standards of excellence within the context of nursing skills and practice.

• Demonstrate the culture of professional nursing excellence achieved through life-long learning:

Competency:  Recognize the need for the advancement of professional practice through contributions to education, administration, health care policy, and knowledge development.

Objective 3:  Caring, culturally responsive communicators capable of effectively leading interdisciplinary healthcare teams.

• Demonstrate caring, culturally responsive leadership communication, capable of effectively leading interdisciplinary health care teams:

Competency: Apply knowledge of professional nursing leadership roles in the healthcare system.

• Demonstrate comprehensive professional leadership knowledge of efficient and effective interdisciplinary health care teams:

Competency:  Articulate understanding of professional leadership in efficient and effective interdisciplinary healthcare teams.

• Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of culturally responsive communication:

Competency:  Employ the nursing process as a purposeful and goal-directed guideline for quality, individually-centered care.

• Demonstrates effective communication using principles of disciplined writing:

Competency:  Effectively communicates clearly and logically through written communication for professional delivery.

Objective 4:  Nursing leaders prepared to assume leadership roles in healthcare systems.

• Demonstrate understanding of leadership roles for quality healthcare outcomes:

Competency:  Cognizant knowledge of interprofessional healthcare leadership roles for quality healthcare outcomes.

• Demonstrate nursing leadership to facilitate interpersonal collaborations, conflict resolution and team-building in health care systems:

Competency:  Ability to actively engage in leadership activities through intro-and  inter-professional collaboration, conflict resolution and team-building in healthcare systems.

Objective 5:  Ethically responsive nursing leaders who advocate influencing policy decisions to improve healthcare that is effective, timely, efficient and equitable for all members of society.

• Demonstrate understanding of competent ethical principles and values of nursing practice:

Competency:  Translate a core set of competent nursing ethical values as a framework for healthcare practice.

• Demonstrate understanding of culturally relevant diversity in healthcare:

Competency:  Define, design and implement culturally relevant healthcare for diverse populations.

• Demonstrate knowledge of ethical healthcare policy decision-making of all components of nursing practice in healthcare organizational systems.

Competency:  Condense knowledge of ethical principles and standards of healthcare policy to synthesize into nursing scholarship and practice.

Objective 6:  Effective collaborators of healthcare committed to improving best practices in health promotion, disease prevention, quality, safety and equality.

• Demonstrate comprehensive professional knowledge of best practices in health promotion and disease prevention:

Competency:  Synthesize comprehensive knowledge of best nursing practice in specialized areas of health promotion and disease prevention.

• Demonstrate comprehensive professional nursing practice dedicated to lifelong scholarly collaboration and development for best practice:

Competency:  Relate the comprehensive professional scholarly process through collaboration as a key component to the integration of best practice in healthcare.

• Demonstrate comprehensive professional knowledge to champion quality, safety, and equality in healthcare:

Competency:  Assimilate comprehensive knowledge to secure quality, safety, and equality in healthcare systems.

Graduate Masters Writing Program Objective:

Students demonstrate professional communication skills in writing through organizing, thinking critically, and communicating ideas and information in documents and presentations.

• Communicates clearly and logically through written communication for professional delivery.
  
• Incorporates APA professional writing skills and standards including concise organization, grammar, references, and citations.
  
• Shows evidence of higher level thinking skills including application, analysis, making predictions, drawing inferences, cause and effect relationships, comparing and contrasting, evaluation, and synthesis.