Master of Science in Nursing Informatics

Core Courses: 14 Credits

Transformational Nursing: Innovation, Inquiry, and Scholarship
This course explores how nursing may be transformed. The ways of knowing set a foundation for knowledge acquisition and competencies for master’s-prepared nurses. The need for nurses to be innovators, through the application of inquiry and scholarship, are discussed in relation to such topics as leadership, change, and power. Theory-based and scientific competencies are examined as they relate to specializations in nursing. A spirit of inquiry, combined with creativity, curiosity, and the translation of evidence, is explored through critical conversations that support interprofessional collaboration and professional nursing roles in a dynamic healthcare environment.

Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice
Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice focuses on the exploration of nursing knowledge development to include philosophy, theories, models, and concepts that have been designed to guide nursing practice. It provides approaches to analyze and critique a variety of theories in nursing and related fields.

Research and Evidence-Based Practice
Research and Evidenced-Based Practice focuses on the research process and the analysis and evaluation of research to integrate the best evidence into practice. Emphasis is on the identification of generic and discipline-specific health care issues, synthesis of client care and research initiatives to inform evidence, and translation of research to support and inform practice innovations.

Policy, Ethics, and Population Health
This course examines public policy, political ideology, and ethics as they shape health policy across populations. Political ideology, social and health policy are considered within the lens of population based health and reducing health disparities. The role of the master’s-prepared nurse is to lead and advocate within the public policy arena is explored and discussed. Contemporary issues in health policy viewed from the perspective of ethics and the social and material determinants of health are considered. A primary focus of the course is consideration and development of the knowledge and skills

Cognate Courses: 6 Credits

Epidemiology
The science of epidemiology is essential in planning disease prevention interventions, developing an understanding of disease etiology, identifying trends in morbidity and mortality, and providing a basis for the development of public health policy. This course will serve as an introduction to the core concepts and methods of epidemiology. Students will explore factors related to the etiology and distribution of illness in populations including exposure, transmission, and prevention. Methodologies used in surveillance techniques will also be introduced and explored.

Graduate Elective
To meet the required number of program credits, 3 graduate-level elective credits must be taken. These may be completed within the graduate program or transferred from other graduate programs if they are deemed eligible for credit.

The nursing informatics component consists of three online courses totaling 10 credits.

Data, Information, and Knowledge

The course focuses on the nature of data, the concepts of information and knowledge, and the principles of relational databases, systems operations, and information systems.

System Life Cycle

This course focuses on a structured approach to the selection and implementation of an information system. This structured approach is called the information system development life cycle and the course incorporates the five phases of the life cycle: planning, analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation.

Management Information for Decision Support

This course focuses on the identification, acquisition, analysis, interpretation, and application of data, databases, and decision-making strategies for health care. It emphasizes decision support systems concepts, methodologies, and technologies, and includes content on model management, knowledge management, and strategies to consider when selecting decision-support systems.

The Nursing Informatics Capstone: 6 Credits

This culminating experience provides learners with an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they’ve acquired throughout the program of study, focusing on the competencies of the graduate-level nurse. This course consists of several integrated components: a 135-hour practice experience, discussion, reflective journal, scholarly paper, and project presentation.

• Function as a leader and change agent to promote holistic patient-centered care and population health.
• Translate evidence to develop health care practices in a culturally and ethnically diverse global society.
• Synthesize theoretical and empirical knowledge from nursing and other disciplines that are essential for nursing judgment and practice.
• Integrate specialty practice knowledge to enhance inter-professional collaboration, inform decisions, and improve outcomes.
• Exemplify professional values and standards, best practices, and the commitment to lifelong learning in the role of the master’s-prepared nurse.
• Implement the role of master’s-prepared nurse as part of the inter-professional team.
• Integrate scholarship, a spirit of inquiry, and innovation to support nursing excellence.
• Apply effective written communication methods to resolve complex problems and organizational issues.

Surveys are administered to our nursing program students upon graduation and at one year post-graduation. The survey results are available here.