The MSN program is designed to prepare graduates with advanced skills in the care of populations (aggregates). The graduate will have in-depth skills in population assessment, demography, epidemiology, data analysis, evaluation research, survey research, data projections, cost-benefit analysis and the ability to apply nursing theory, population theory, ethics, cultural awareness, and political strategies to design, implement and evaluate population health programs. The program enables nurses to practice with populations across care settings.

Cognate or Area of Concentration (Identifying a Population)

Students may choose their area of concentration according to interest and faculty availability. The population selected must be approved by the student's faculty advisor or the Program Director.

Program of Study

A minimum of 38 credit hours of study is required. Courses include:

NUR 500 Professional Role Development for Population Health Nursing I
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. Focuses on giving voice to the role of a population health nurse expert beyond the parameters of current areas of advanced practice function. The emerging nursing role in population health is necessary for practice in today's health care delivery system in which social, cultural, political, and economic forces interact with complex client systems. Students are supported to construct a new paradigm for nursing practice in order to articulate the role to health professionals, policy makers, community groups, and consumers.

NUR 501 Introduction to Population Health Nursing
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. Addresses the philosophy and framework for population health and the care of aggregates. Concepts of health, disease, health promotion, and health restoration are emphasized, along with knowledge of human and cultural diversity, factors influencing health and disease states, the ethics of care, and population as community. There is an emphasis on the need to collect explicit population data to progress systematically through the steps of health-promotion and program-planning processes. Introduces the Precede-Proceed Model; theories, concepts, and models of families; communication related to population health; epidemiology; public policy; and cost containment.

NUR 502 Theory Development in Nursing
Prerequisites: Graduate standing and B.S.N., or permission of instructor. Sets forth the expectation for using theory as a framework in graduate-level nursing practice. Nursing theories, models, and the stress framework are applied to population health.

NUR 503 Nursing Research Methods I
Prerequisites: Undergraduate or graduate-level statistics course and graduate standing, or permission of instructor. Focuses on critical analysis of scientific knowledge related to clinical problems. Study of the research process with emphasis on the logic and processes of inquiry, design, sampling, measurement, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of findings. Use of information systems, standardized databases, and statistics needed for population analysis is presented.

NUR 505 Introduction to Epidemiology and Demography: A Nursing Perspective
Prerequisite: NUR 503 or permission of instructor. Focuses on the assessment of population groups with emphasis on epidemiology and demography. Analysis of population-based data for use in practice, program planning, and consultation is emphasized. The course provides an opportunity to use epidemiologic and demographic data to plan interventions for populations.

NUR 601 Nursing Research Methods II
Prerequisite: NUR 503 or permission of instructor. Promotes research-based nursing practice in the care of populations. Focuses on methods of implementing research findings to solve identified clinical problems, and in developing questions appropriate for population-based research. Students gain skill in developing and evaluating evidenced-based practice guidelines for populations and in using research methods to evaluate outcomes.

NUR 602 Health Care Policy
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. Models of health care policy are presented as well as principles for understanding behavior of complex health care, social organizations, community groups, and subcultures. Issues related to managed care, program planning, resource allocation, utilization and outcomes, and government and business influences on population health nursing practice are discussed. Application of ethical dimensions of health care policies to case studies and selected provider guidelines enables students to develop awareness, sensitivity, and a values framework to act ethically in policy decisions. An eight-week course.

NUR 603 Health Care Financing for Nursing Practices
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. Focuses on strategic thinking for planning and managing in health care settings. Economics, reimbursement, budget planning, business planning, and marketing are explored in relation to nursing services. Issues such as health care financing practices, reimbursement for nursing care, cost-accounting of nursing services, billing codes, resource allocation, managed care and insurance coverage are explored. Effects of such practices on nursing workforce/manpower issues are explored. Access to care is analyzed as a contributing factor to population health. Students develop analytical skills and examine the ethical impact of economic decisions. An eight-week course.

NUR 604 Nursing of Populations I
Prerequisite: Completion of Phase I courses; co-requisite: NUR 601. Examines physiological, pharmacological, environmental, and demographic factors that frame nursing interventions at the population level. In the laboratory component, students design and implement research-based nursing interventions, and evaluate the outcomes of these interventions on aggregates. An eight-week course.

NUR 605 Nursing of Populations II
Prerequisites: Completion of Phase I courses and NUR 604; co-requisite: NUR 601. Examines psychosocial, behavioral, educational, cultural, political, and ethical factors that frame nursing interventions at the population level. In the laboratory component, students design and implement research-based nursing interventions and evaluate the outcomes of these interventions on populations. An eight-week course.

NUR 606 Practicum in Population Health Care
Prerequisite: NUR 605; co-requisite: NUR 607. NUR 602 and NUR 603 also may be taken as co-requisites. Provides students with the opportunity to synthesize and apply their understanding of population health concepts as well as theories and nursing frameworks with a population of their choice along the continuum of care. In this culminating experience, students plan, execute, and evaluate nursing practice within the context of the practice setting(s) or among populations in communities. Within the practice situation, students enact leadership roles to expand, enhance, and optimize positive outcomes for the population. The practicum includes a clinical seminar in which students analyze patterns of health care delivery to populations, examine factors that influence decision making, and appraise the impact of inter-professional collaboration on outcomes and their own efficacy as population health nursing experts.

NUR 607 Professional Role Development for Population Health Nursing II
Prerequisites: NUR 604 and NUR 605; co-requisite: NUR 606 or NUR 616. Culminating seminar that focuses on the emerging role of the population health nursing expert as it relates to nursing administration, direct practice, independent practice, consultation, public policy, community building, and nursing entrepreneurship. Graduates are prepared to provide leadership in the development, implementation, and evaluation of health care to populations, and to articulate the role to health professionals, policy makers, community groups, and consumers.