Master of Science in Nursing with a specialization in Public Health, (RN to MSN Bridge Program)
Program Description:
The mission of the Aspen University School of Nursing and Health Sciences is to enhance the health and quality of life for individuals, families, and communities at local, state, and national levels through excellence in teaching, scholarship and practice.
The Master of Science in Nursing (RN to MSN) program prepares nurses to assume leadership roles in management, education, forensics, public health, informatics and clinical practice within a diverse society and across a spectrum of healthcare settings. Theory courses combine the basic foundation of traditional education in a convenient distance-learning format, enabling practicing nurses to meet their academic, professional, and personal goals. Practicum courses are performed in a clinical setting, allowing students to apply learned concepts under the direct supervision of a Master-degreed RN preceptor.
Public Health follows the current trend to care for patients more in the community, and as a community. The public health nursing major will get a thorough overview of epidemiology and the role of public health in community wellness. An in-depth course in school nursing will expose the student to the pivotal public health role of the school nurse as educator, advocate, and public health evaluator. Prior to the practicum, the student will examine outpatient care with a course on case management and home health—including hospice—to learn how the entire community collaborates for patient care. An individualized practicum will be created by the student in a public health, school, or home health venue (usually) and that may inform the final capstone. Graduates of this program can work in public health, home health, hospice, school nursing, or case management.
With the RN to MSN Bridge program, students do not receive a BSN degree but instead progress toward graduating with an MSN in a specialty area.
Degree Requirements: 57 Credits, including 110 field experience hours and 120 practicum hours.
Program Learning Goals:
It is intended that Graduates of the Aspen University Registered Nurse to Master of Science in Nursing with a specialization in Public Health program will learn or be able to do the following:
- Background for Practice from Sciences and Humanities (Bridge): Integrates scientific findings from nursing, biopsychosocial fields, genetics, public health, quality improvement, and organizational sciences for the continual improvement of nursing care across diverse settings.
- Organizational and Systems Leadership (Bridge): Demonstrates leadership skills that emphasize ethical and critical decision making, effective working relationships, and a systems perspective because organizational and systems leadership are critical to the promotion of high quality and safe patient care.
- Quality Improvement and Safety (Bridge): Articulates methods, tools, performance measures, and standards related to quality, and applies quality principles within an organization.
- Translating and Integrating Scholarship into Practice (Bridge): Applies research outcomes within the practice setting, resolves complex practice problems, works as a change agent, and disseminates results.
- Informatics and Healthcare Technologies (Bridge): Using patient-care technologies, delivers and enhances care and using communication technologies, integrates and coordinates care.
- Health Policy and Advocacy (Bridge): Intervenes at the system level through the policy development process and employs advocacy strategies to influence health and health care.
- Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes (Bridge): As a member and leader of interprofessional teams, communicates, collaborates, and consults with other health professionals to manage and coordinate care.
- Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving Health (Bridge): Applies and integrates broad, organizational, client-centered, and culturally appropriate concepts in the planning, delivery, management, and evaluation of evidence-based clinical prevention and population care and services to individuals, families, and aggregates/identified populations.
- Master’s-Level Nursing Practice (Bridge): Integrates the advanced level of understanding of nursing and relevant sciences with nursing practice to create nursing practice interventions.
- Public Health (Bridge): Apply advanced-level theoretical, research-based, scientific, and clinical public health nursing knowledge through nursing care planning and practice in home health, hospice, school nursing, or case management.
Academic Schedule
Courses:
| N490 | Issues and Trends in Professional Nursing | 3 |
| N491 | Concepts and Theories in Nursing | 3 |
| N492 | Community Health Nursing I | 3 |
| N494 | Essentials of Nursing Research | 3 |
| N493 | Community Health Nursing II | 3 |
| N495 | Health Assessment | 3 |
| N496 | Nursing Leadership and Management | 3 |
| Mid-Program Proctored Exam | |
| N502 | Health Care Systems | 3 |
| N680 | Overview of Public Health Nursing | 3 |
| N512 | Diverse Populations & Health Care | 3 |
| N520 | Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Care | 3 |
| N518 | Advanced Physical Assessment | 3 |
| N510 | Advanced Pathophysiology | 3 |
| N511 | Advanced Pharmacology | 3 |
| N682 | School Nursing | 3 |
| N684 | Case Management and Home Health Services | 3 |
| N508 | Theory and Research | 3 |
| N586PH | Public Health Nursing Practicum | 3 |
| N599 | Nursing Capstone | 3 |