Nursing
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Graduate Programs
Description
Minnesota State University, Mankato (MSU) offers a graduate program for students interested in becoming a doctorally prepared family nurse practitioner and also offers a post-graduate program for advanced practice registered nurses interested in obtaining a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. Students admitted into the BSN to DNP Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner program progress full-time through the curriculum and obtain the DNP degree in 3 years. The post-masters DNP program is part-time, fully online, and takes 2 years to complete. Applicants to the post-masters DNP program must be either a certified nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist, nurse midwife, or clinical nurse specialist.
The Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Program is designed to prepare professional nurses for advanced practice nursing. The FNP program builds upon and extends the body of knowledge and competencies of baccalaureate education in nursing. Graduate study in the School of Nursing educates nurses by creating an academic environment that fosters scholarship, critical thinking, and creativity. Graduate courses include theoretical and clinical experiences that provide the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills necessary to assume the role of an advanced practice nurse. Graduates are eligible for national certification as family nurse practitioners and are prepared to practice in primary care settings where they diagnose and treat individuals across the life span and their families.
Majors |
Program | Locations | Total Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nursing Practice DNP | DNP - Doctor of Nursing Practice |
|
80 |
| Nursing Practice from MSN DNP | DNP - Doctor of Nursing Practice |
|
80 |
Policies & Faculty
Policies
Admission:
Application materials are available online from the School of Nursing website and the College of Graduate Studies and Research. Completed applications are due in fall semester for admission to classes starting in summer. Applicants submit materials online to the College of Graduate Studies and Research.
Completed applications are reviewed by the Nursing Graduate Program Admission Committee using the following criteria:
- BS/BA or entry level masters degree from an NLNAC/CCNE accredited school of nursing preferred (as verified by official transcripts).
- Current RN licensure in at least one state with eligibility for licensure in Minnesota.
- Undergraduate cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or greater on a 4.0 scale. If cumulative GPA is less than 3.0, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is required. The GRE results must be submitted along with the application. The GRE must have been taken within five years prior to application.
- An on–campus written essay is required of all applicants. The written essay is an applicant's response to a topic related to nursing and is evaluated for composition and fluency. This essay is written prior to the fall application deadline and is scored by a member of the graduate faculty. The faculty essay score is submitted along with the application.
- Minimum of one year of clinical nursing practice experience as a baccalaureate prepared RN.
- Submission of a completed Graduate Nursing Programs Application.
- One reference from a nursing supervisor who can respond to questions about the applicant's clinical nursing abilities.
- An interview may also be required as part of the application process.
- Applicants are notified by mail of the admission decision by December 10th for admission the following summer.
Progression:
- In general, the School of Nursing graduate program follows the College of Graduate Studies scholastic standards.
- A student who does not achieve a passing grade in two courses (or one course repeated) will not be allowed to continue in the graduate program.
Outcomes
Graduates of the BSN to DNP degree program will be able to:
- Evaluate scientific underpinnings that contribute to translation of nursing research to improve practice.
- Evaluate advanced practice nursing actions that promote prevention and influence outcomes for individual, family, and population health.
- Use knowledge gained through evaluation of advanced practice nursing actions that influence health outcomes to lead improvement in health policy, care delivery, patient outcomes, and systems management.
- Evaluate and apply evidence pertaining to direct care of patients and management of care for individuals, families, systems, and populations.
- Translate evidence gained through evaluation of collaborative and direct care of patients and management of care for individuals, families, systems, and populations to improve practice and implement health policy.
- Use health care technology in the synthesis of evidence to design, implement, and evaluate change to address a clinical practice problem.
Contact Information
7700 France Ave. S. Suite 500, Edina, MN 55435
V (952) 818-8884http://ahn.mnsu.edu/nursing/
Faculty
Chair
- Patricia Young, PhD, RN
DNP Coordinator
- Hans-Peter de Ruiter, PhD, RN
FNP Coordinator
- Cheryl Swenson, DNP, APRN, CNP
Faculty
500 Level
Credits: 4
Examine the roles in health informatics, information technology and analytics while striving to improve individual, family, and societal healthcare outcomes, through the gathering, retrieval, and analysis of data. Students will gain foundational knowledge regarding health, healthcare practices, safety, and compassionate care reflecting an understanding of human growth and development, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and care management across the health-illness continuum, across the lifespan, and in all healthcare settings.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course offers theoretical and simulated clinical practice to develop advanced skills in health and physical assessment throughout the life span. Students complete a client data base and identify nursing problems necessary in making clinical judgments and planning and caring for the health care needs of individual clients.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Course content begins with legal and ethical considerations for nurse prescribers, proceeds with presentation and analysis of core decision-making processes and advanced practices nurses use to select drugs, and finally explores clinical case management concepts involved in monitoring persons as they use prescribed drugs.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course provides a foundation in advanced physiology and pathophysiology at the cellular, organic and systemic level. This foundation serves as a basis for clinical assessment and management by advanced practice nurses. Key concepts and integration of function among systems will be emphasized. The impact of psychosocial variables on physiologic function will be explored.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1
Advanced practice assessment tools and procedures encountered by a Family Nurse Practitioner are explored and practiced during seminars, including basic laboratory, electrocardiogram, and radiology interpretation, splinting, and dermatologic procedures.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1-3
Workshop(s) with various topics and titles.Prerequisites: none
600 Level
Credits: 3
Concepts, theories, and models that inform advanced nursing practice are systematically examined and evaluated. Selected theories are analyzed and critiqued utilizing theory formation criteria. Students discuss application of nursing science and conceptual models to clinical area of focus and critically articulate use of theory-based practice in family and/or advanced nursing roles.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course is an analysis of the complex ethical and legal issues within clinical nursing practice. Emphasis is on inquiry into ethical ways of knowing and practicing in nursing. Ethical issues related to population health and health disparities are examined.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course investigates the professional identification and activities necessary in advanced nursing roles. Theoretical concepts of leadership, management, consultation, clinical investigation, and education will be examined relative to the graduate nurse's responsibility for collaboration and consultation in nursing research, practice, and health policy development.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
The role of research and its application, utilization and integration in nursing practice is examined. Research approaches, designs and methods are analyzed. Emphasis is placed on development of analytic skills for reading and applying research in advanced practice roles.Prerequisites: HLTH 675
Credits: 3
Students will investigate mental health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis and management in providing care to individuals and families to assess and detect actual and potential mental health problems.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course provides a foundation in human genetics and genomics to prepare advanced practice nurses to evaluate individual and family risk for genetic/genomic disorders, utilize diagnostic testing, and provide educational, and therapeutic interventions within their scope of practice. Ethical, legal, social, cultural, economic, and policy implications of genetics/genomics will be examined.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Middle-range theories that describe and explain the development of health-related behaviors are analyzed. Focus is on how multiple environments influence the development of health-related perceptions and behaviors of individuals, families and groups.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Examine information technology systems, including decision-support systems that are essential to gathering evidence to impact health and value-based clinical practice. Discover how improvement in cost effectiveness and safety depends on evidence-based practice, outcomes research, and inter-professional care coordination.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
The student will apply critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills to interpret health-related data to inform healthcare decisions and influence individual, family, and societal health outcomes. The student will experience the dynamic process of working within a team to utilize informatics to transform the coordination and delivery of care across multiple settings.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Discover what happens when health practice and service delivery collide with the capture of data, by observing the provision of care in various settings and identifying sources of data. Students in this course will be challenged to utilize health technologies, identify and capture valuable data, and discuss meaningful ways that information can be used to enhance health education, influence care delivery, and innovate practice for individuals, families and society.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 4
This course examines family nursing models and middle-range theories useful for family nursing practice. Theoretical constructs and processes of family health and illness experiences are explored. Family as context and family as a unit of care are analyzed. Innovative and evidence-based family nursing interventions and models of care to influence family health are constructed, applied, and evaluated.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Part I: Focuses on health promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health for adults and older adults. Emphasizes development of diagnostic, prescriptive, and management skills related to selected health problems to facilitate clinical decision making and delivery of advanced practice nursing.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Theoretical concepts, assessments, and intervention strategies related to health among culturally diverse children and adolescents are critiqued. Health promotion/protection and nursing management of acute and selected chronic health problems of the child and adolescent are addressed.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 2
Management of reproductive health care needs is addressed. Health promotion and management of acute and chronic health problems are examined. The role of the health care delivery system and issues related to reproductive ethics, health policy, and research are critiqued.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Part II: Focuses on health promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health for adults and older adults. Emphasizes development of diagnostic, prescriptive, and management skills related to selected health problems to facilitate clinical decision making and delivery of advanced practice nursing.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Course examines advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology, and health assessment concepts useful for nurse educators.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 2
Analysis of issues and best practices related to developing healthy lifestyles and behaviors in individuals, families, and communities. Selected health promotion middle-range theories and models for population health advocacy are examined.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 2
This course focuses on specialty care of children/adolescents and clients with reproductive health needs across the life spectrum. Students contract with a certified family, pediatric, and/or specialty advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), physician or physician assistant for this 100-hour clinical experience. This course encompasses wellness care of children/adolescents and management of acute/chronic child and adolescent-related health problems. Students will utilize assessment skills, develop differential diagnoses, and implement plans of care for clients with reproductive health needs, as well as provide well-woman exams and preventive care. The clinical experience focuses on the beginning development of the family nurse practitioner. NURS 642, 643, 672, 743 must be taken concurrently.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 2
This course is a continuation of Child/Adolescent/Reproductive Health I, encompassing specialty care of children/adolescents and clients with reproductive health needs across the life spectrum. Students contract with a certified family, pediatric, and/or specialty advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), physician or physician assistant for this 100-hour clinical experience. This course encompasses wellness care of children/adolescents and management of acute/chronic child/adolescent-related health problems. Students utilize assessment skills, further develop differential diagnoses, and implement plans of care for clients with reproductive health needs and provide focused well-woman exams and preventive care. The clinical experience focuses on the developing family nurse practitioner skillset. Must be taken concurrently with NURS 673.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course provides the opportunity to apply knowledge and develop skills related to the role of the family nurse practitioner in the healthcare management of clients/families in primary care settings.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 7
This course provides the opportunity to apply knowledge and advance skills related to the role of the family nurse practitioner in the healthcare management of clients/families with complex disease states and conditions in primary care.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1-5
Course provides students with opportunity to focus on a research problem that is related to their area of nursing practice. Students work with a nursing faculty advisor (committee chairperson) in developing the thesis proposal, writing the thesis, and preparing disseminate the results of the study. With the advisor's approval, the thesis is submitted for oral defense as part of the requirements for the MSN degree.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Students will integrate their technology-related background with the practical application of scientific and professional knowledge, behavior, and skills. Students will employ health advocacy strategies, principles of quality improvement, healthcare policy knowledge, and cost-effectiveness as part of an inter-professional team to analyze data and develop a strategy to impact practice improvements in order to increase the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery, improve satisfaction, or manage health-related costs.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1-4
Course provides students with the opportunity to focus on a research problem that is related to their area of nursing practice. Students work with a nursing faculty advisor (committee chairperson) in developing the thesis proposal, writing the thesis, and preparing to disseminate the results of the study. With the advisor's approval, the thesis is submitted for oral defense as part of the requirements for the MSN degree.Prerequisites: none
700 Level
Credits: 3
This course prepares advanced practice nurses with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead and mentor other nurses and health care workers to promote safe, quality health care in a variety of settings and within a variety of roles.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course focuses on the knowledge and skills related to information systems and patient care technology that prepare the DNP graduate to manage individual and aggregate level information and assess and improve the effectiveness of nursing care.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Organizational and systems leadership skills are evaluated and tested. Focus of the course is on transformational leadership, leading in a culturally sensitive environment, change strategies, measurement of outcomes, data driven decision-making, and the business realities of leading health care systems.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Advanced nursing actions to facilitate health of individuals, families and society and intervention models used to support nursing practice are constructed, implemented, and critically evaluated. The science of health and illness experiences and evidence guiding nursing actions are appraised.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 4
This seminar and practicum course focuses on program needs assessment, program development, and program planning within the interprofessional team. The DNP student works on small evidence-based projects at a clinical site under the direction of a preceptor.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 4
This seminar and practicum course focuses on program implementation and evaluation data collection. The DNP student works with a preceptor at the clinical site applying interprofessional team leadership and informatics skills related to evidence-based clinical program implementation and management.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 4
This seminar and practicum course focuses on program evaluation and dissemination. The DNP student works with a preceptor to disseminate program outcomes and demonstrate applicability of findings for the clinical setting and the profession.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1-5
Enrollment for direct advanced nursing practice in a precepted clinical setting for post-masters students in the DNP program who need additional practice hours to fulfill the 1000 clinical practice hour requirement. May be repeated. Prerequisite: admission to post-masters DNP program. Pass/No credit. 1 semester credit = 50 clinical hours.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1
This course allows continuing enrollment in the DNP program to complete the capstone project. It continues registration after completion of all other program requirements and may not be used to meet any other program or graduation requirement.Prerequisites: none
