MSN: Nursing Innovation Concentration
Major: Nursing Innovation
Degree Awarded: Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 45.0 minimum
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 51.3818
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 29-1141
NOTE: No applications will be accepted for the 2022-2023 academic year. Please check back in summer 2023 for an update.
About the Program
The online MSN in Nursing Innovation is designed for the graduate nursing student who seeks to re-invent and transform nursing practice in today's tumultuous healthcare system. Graduates of this accredited program fill innovative and problem-solving roles as clinicians, educators, administrators, and clinical scientists; some students choose to move toward and succeed in the business environment of healthcare.
This pioneering master's degree emphasizes problem-solving and creative approaches to advance nursing practice and improve and change healthcare delivery while focusing on models, methods, environments, and processes that will give students the tools to transform ideas into reality. It offers a flexible, but rigorous, curriculum including a substantial capstone project that demonstrates innovation and pushing the creative boundaries to promote real and substantive change.
This program:
- Gives students the ability to make ideas a reality
- Teaches students new skills to support changing ideas into reality
- Develops students as creative and inventive nurses who can make meaningful and unique contributions to the healthcare industry
- Is a good fit for students whose career objectives may not be met by a traditional graduate nursing curriculum or career paths
With approval, students may design an individualized plan of study to meet the program requirements or use the 4-5 electives to obtain a post-baccalaureate certificate in a specialty area of interest including, but not limited to, the list below:
- Leadership in Health Systems Management
- Nursing Education
- Substance Use Disorders Counseling
- Project Management
- Healthcare Informatics
- Complementary & Integrative Therapies
The program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
Admission Requirements
- BSN from a program fully accredited by NLN and or CCNE
- 3.0 or above on all previous coursework or the last 60.0 credits completed. Applications from RNs with a GPA less than 3.0 may be considered on an individual basis.
- Official transcripts from all previous educational institutions are required.
- Two professional references required from colleagues or supervisors who can attest to the applicant’s knowledge, skill, and potential aptitude for graduate study
- Personal statement (no more than two pages and no less than one page double-spaced) that will give the admissions committee a better understanding of the following:
- Describe your proposed capstone project.
- Would your capstone project be intrapreneurial or entrepreneurial?
- Is your capstone a project, program, or product?
- Who is your target audience?
- Curriculum vitae or resume
- Copy of current United States RN license required
- Copies of any Advanced Practice Nursing licensure and certification documents
- While specific experience is not required for applicants to the track, previous related work experience may make an applicant more competitive.
International applicants must possess a BSN (or its equivalent) and current US RN license.
TOEFL Requirement
International applicants, as well as immigrants to the United States and United States permanent residents whose native language is not English and who have not received a bachelor’s degree or higher in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom, must show proficiency in English speaking as well as listening, writing, and reading. U.S. citizens born on U.S. military bases abroad may be waived from the TOEFL requirement after providing documentation of this status; otherwise, applicants must meet one of the following requirements:
If you take the TOEFLiBT exam, you are required to have a minimum combined score for the listening, writing, and reading sections of 79 plus a speaking section score of 26 or higher.
If you take the TOEFL, you are required to have a minimum score of 550 or higher and a Test of Spoken English score (TSE) of 55 or higher.
Degree Requirements
Core MSN Courses | ||
NURS 500 [WI] | Confronting Issues in Contemporary Health Care Environments | 3.0 |
NURS 502 | Advanced Ethical Decision Making in Health Care | 3.0 |
NURS 544 | Quality and Safety in Healthcare | 3.0 |
RSCH 503 | Research Methods and Biostatistics | 3.0 |
RSCH 504 | Evaluation and Translation of Health Research | 3.0 |
Required Track Courses | ||
NURS 586 | Innovation in Advanced Nursing Practice: Theory and Application | 3.0 |
NURS 587 | Case Studies in Intra/Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Nursing | 3.0 |
Support Courses | ||
NURS 564 | The Business of Healthcare | 3.0 |
PROJ 501 | Introduction to Project Management | 3.0 |
Praticum/Capstone Projects | ||
NURS 652 | Innovation Capstone Project | 6.0 |
Electives (by advisement with track coordinator or selected from concentrations listed below) | 12.0-18.0 | |
Total Credits | 45.0-51.0 |
Healthcare Informatics Concentration | ||
PROJ 502 | Project Planning & Scheduling | 3.0 |
INFO 648 | Healthcare Informatics | 3.0 |
INFO 731 | Managing Health Informatics Projects | 3.0 |
INFO 732 | Healthcare Informatics: Planning & Evaluation | 3.0 |
Total Credits | 12.0 |
Service to Veterans Concentration | ||
IPS 549 | The Military and Veteran Culture | 3.0 |
IPS 550 | The Unique Health Care Needs of our Military and Veterans | 3.0 |
IPS 551 | Veteran Advocacy | 3.0 |
IPS 552 | Veteran Healthcare Policy | 3.0 |
Total Credits | 12.0 |
Complementary & Integrative Therapies Concentration | ||
CIT 501 | Foundations of Phytotherapy | 3.0 |
CIT 502 | Foundations of Complementary and Integrative Therapies | 3.0 |
CIT 503 | Holistic Living For The Caregiver | 3.0 |
CIT Elective * | 3.0 | |
Total Credits | 12.0 |
- *
One CIT 500 or 600 level course
Holistic Hospice & Palliative Care Concentration | ||
CIT 503 | Holistic Living For The Caregiver | 3.0 |
CIT 621 | Spirituality in Hospice and Palliative Care | 3.0 |
CIT 622 | Holistic Therapies in Hospice and Palliative Care | 3.0 |
CIT 623 | Cultural Perspectives in Hospice and Palliative Care | 3.0 |
Total Credits | 12.0 |
Leadership in Health Systems Management Concentration | ||
NURS 557 | Leadership and Stewardship in the Health Professions | 3.0 |
NURS 558 | Economics of Healthcare Management & Policy | 3.0 |
NURS 559 | Operations Management in Contemporary Healthcare Organizations | 3.0 |
NURS 562 | Workforce Management in Healthcare Organizations | 3.0 |
or NURS 564 | The Business of Healthcare | |
or NURS 567 | Strategic Management: Power, Politics and Influence in Healthcare Systems | |
Total Credits | 12.0 |
Forensic Trends & Issues in Contemporary Healthcare Concentration | ||
PROJ 502 | Project Planning & Scheduling | 3.0 |
NURS 519 | Forensic Science Foundations | 3.0 |
NURS 528 | Victimology – Contemporary Trend | 3.0 |
NURS 533 | Forensic Mental Health | 3.0 |
Total Credits | 12.0 |
Integrative Addiction Therapies | ||
CIT 503 | Holistic Living For The Caregiver | 3.0 |
CIT 624 | Foundations of Integrative Addiction Therapies | 3.0 |
CIT 625 | Spirituality, Empowerment, and Transformation | 3.0 |
CIT 631 | Introduction to Nutritional Neuroscience | 3.0 |
Total Credits | 12.0 |
Substance Use Disorder Concentration | ||
BACS 534 | Approaches to Substance Use Disorders | 3.0 |
BACS 535 | Motivational Enhancement Skills | 3.0 |
BACS 540 | Treatment Planning and Relapse Prevention | 3.0 |
BACS 560 | Preventing Substance Use Disorders | 3.0 |
BACS 568 | Substance Use Counseling with Special Populations | 3.0 |
BACS 570 | Clinical Supervision Skills | 3.0 |
Total Credits | 18.0 |
Health Care Compliance Concentration | ||
IPS 501 | Legal Compliance: Structure and Implementation | 4.5 |
IPS 504 | Regulations in Health Care | 4.5 |
IPS 505 | Health Care Quality and the Legal Context | 4.5 |
IPS 506 | HIPAA: A Patient’s Legal Right to Privacy | 4.5 |
Total Credits | 18.0 |
Writing-Intensive Course Requirement
A [WI], Writing Intensive, next to a graduate course in this catalog indicates that the graduate course is a writing intensive course. The graduate course is a required course in your curriculum.
Sample Plan of Study
First Year | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
NURS 500 | 3.0 | RSCH 503 | 3.0 | RSCH 504 | 3.0 | NURS 544 | 3.0 |
NURS 586 | 3.0 | NURS 587 | 3.0 | NURS 564 | 3.0 | INFO 648 | 3.0 |
6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | ||||
Second Year | |||||||
Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
PROJ 501 | 3.0 | PROJ 502 | 3.0 | INFO 732 | 3.0 | NURS 502 | 3.0 |
INFO 731 | 3.0 | NURS 652 | 6.0 | ||||
6 | 9 | 3 | 3 | ||||
Total Credits 45 |
Note: Some terms are less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students these terms.