Master's Nursing - Specific Policies

Prerequisites. Prerequisite courses for the MSN degree concentrations require an earned grade of C or higher.

Transfer credit. A maximum of six graduate credit hours with a B or higher may be transferred from a prior master's degree program in nursing. For the MSN program (all concentrations), prerequisite courses and courses considered for transfer credit should have a final course grade of B or higher with these limitations:

Specialty Core (3 P's): Coursework will be considered within six years of the program completion date.
MSN Degree Major Courses: Coursework will be considered within six years of the program completion.
Clinical (Practicum) Transfer Credits (All concentrations): Clinical hours may not be transferred into the MSN degree concentrations.

Attendance. The course syllabi provide further information on attendance and participation. The MSN program follows ECPI University's Graduate Attendance Policy.

The expectations at ECPI are similar to the workplace where employees are expected to arrive at work each day prepared to add value. As such, attendance and participation in the class is critical to success in the course and students are expected to attend each regularly scheduled session. If the student is absent, it is his/her responsibility to contact the faculty member and arrange for any make-up work assignments. Excessive absences may result in the termination of enrollment in a course and a grade will be assigned in accordance with the grading policies.

Preceptorship Attire. All students participating in clinical or preceptor experiences should dress appropriately. Clinical is limited to corporate casual attire, a white lab coat and a name tag.

Practicum Clinical Requirements. Students attending the practicum courses in the MSN program are responsible for securing their own location and qualified preceptor, and providing any clinical documentation requested by the agency such as physical exam, immunizations, current PPD or TB testing, AHA CPR Certification, and current RN license in the state of residence. Students should maintain their own clinical records throughout the program. Clinical required documents may be different depending on the concentration, please refer to the MSN Student Handbook and Practicum Handbook.

Disclosure. Requirements regarding distance education and practicum experiences vary from state to state. The student’s initial program application is reviewed using the address provided upon enrollment to determine individual ability to complete the program and practicum requirements in the student’s state.

It is the responsibility of the student to inform the Program Director and ECPI University of address changes prior to relocation. Changing the state of residence during the course of the MSN program may alter the ability of students to complete the MSN program.

Essential Functional Abilities. Nursing is a profession that requires specific abilities. Students must be able to complete the minimal level of abilities to practice as a nurse as published by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. RNs should be able to fully function in the following areas:

Physical (gross and the fine motor, physical endurance, physical strength, mobility)
Sensory (visual, tactile, olfactory, hearing)
Cognitive (reading, arithmetic, analytical and critical thinking)
Interactive (interpersonal, communicative)
Contact the Program Director for questions or more information if you have questions about any one or all of the essential functional abilities. Also see the catalog section on Americans with Disabilities Act.

Late Assignments and Testing. Guidance for late assignments and testing are located in the MSN Program Student Handbook located in the MSN Student Corner in Canvas.

Program Purpose. The purpose of the master's in nursing program is to prepare nurses to act as experts in various clinical and academic settings. Graduates of this program will integrate interdisciplinary knowledge to become leaders of change and ensure quality patient outcomes and safe practices. Graduates will be prepared to engage in the research process, apply research findings to nursing practice across populations and settings, and disseminate knowledge. Graduates will provide direct and indirect nursing care at the graduate level, to coordinate care, advocate for patients, families and communities, and participate in political processes to ensure equality in care. Graduates will be able to leverage advanced technologies to solve healthcare systems problems and educate current and future nurses.

Philosophy of the MSN Program. Keeping with the nursing programs of the College of Health Science, the MSN program believes that:

Each individual is a unique person having dignity and worth. Individuals, as members of the family and the community, are shaped by cultural, physiological, psychosocial, spiritual, and developmental forces. The family and the community influence early beliefs and values of individuals, and in turn individuals contribute to the effective functioning of the family and community.
Nursing is both an art and a science grounded in a social context and related to experiences with people in need. It is based on a specific body of nursing theory and principles from behavioral and social sciences. Nursing is an interpersonal process and involves the application of knowledge, technical and collaborative skills, critical thinking and creative problem solving. The focus of nursing is on caring for individuals, families, or client groups. By using the nursing process, nurses promote, maintain, and restore client health as well as provide compassionate care to the dying. As health care providers, nurses engage in a collaborative practice that focuses on outcomes and adheres to practice guidelines that ensure quality and access.
Professional values and value-based interventions are fundamental to nursing education. As the basis for professional nursing practice, values and value-based actions may be viewed as ethically reflective practice that the nursing student uses to interact with patients, health care professionals, and society.
Teaching and learning are life-long interactive processes through which active inquiry and participation result in a change in behavior. A teaching/learning process is facilitated when the learner and teacher share responsibility for outcomes. Learning is facilitated when content is presented in an orderly sequential manner (i.e. simple to complex, known to unknown, normal or abnormal, general to specific).
Critical thinking, clinical competence, accountability, and a commitment to the value of caring is necessary to maintain or restore clients to their optimum state of health and to provide the support which allows death with dignity. As the provider of care, the nurse’s commitment to client/family-centered care will facilitate successful preparation for practice in various health care settings.
It is essential that the nurse have current knowledge in nursing concepts, principles, processes, and skills. Supportive of that knowledge is an understanding of health, acute and chronic health deviations, nutrition, pharmacology, communication, human development, teaching/learning principles, current technology, humanities, and biological, social, and behavioral sciences.
The nurse is a manager of care in various health care settings where policies and procedures are specified and guidance is available. To be competent in the role as a manager of care, the nurse must possess the knowledge and skills necessary to make decisions regarding priorities of care, to delegate some aspects of nursing care, and direct others to use time and resources efficiently, and to know when to seek assistance. Supporting this knowledge is an understanding of the principles of client-care management, communication and delegation, legal parameters of nursing practice, and roles and responsibilities of members of the health care team.

Organizing Framework of the MSN Program

The roles and functions of the MSN nurse graduate expand from the BSN level. The framework for the MSN programs is built on the AACN Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing (2011). Graduates of the MSN programs will possess “broad knowledge and practice expertise” beyond the baccalaureate degree and the roles of health care leader, care manager, contributor to the profession, and community collaborator. Graduates will be prepared for work in current and future innovative environments where nursing and healthcare are delivered. Graduates will utilize technology to solve unique as well as global nursing issues, and learn to coordinate care by communicating across the boundaries of degrees, departments, facilities, and states. Graduates are prepared to educate patients, families, groups, students, and each other. Graduates in direct-care roles will possess graduate-level knowledge in assessment, pharmacology, and pathophysiology; and, have precepted learning experiences. Expectations for graduates will focus on patient safety, quality healthcare, and impacting the systems that provide care.

Graduates will exemplify the Institute of Medicine (IOM) core competencies of all health care professionals (2003) by providing patient-centered care that identifies and respects patients' individual needs and differences. Graduates will work in interdisciplinary teams to promote care that is continuous, reliable and will use evidence-based practices to transmit research into practice. Quality improvement techniques will be applied to identify hazards to patient care, understand safety design principles, and measures of quality. Graduates will also use information technology to communicate with each other and reduce the chances for error.

Additionally, the MSN program will use the teaching methods that support the use of technology and teach for a sense of salience, situated cognition and action in particular situations; integrate classroom and clinical experiences where appropriate; emphasize clinical reasoning and multiple ways of thinking; and emphasize role formation in graduate roles.

Prerequisite courses. Applicants who do not have previous undergraduate coursework in statistics, health assessment and research may be required to complete one or more prerequisite courses prior to acceptance in the graduate program. Below are the corresponding undergraduate classes, which may be taken online, to satisfy this requirement. The MSN Director or Associate Director will review the undergraduate transcript for the following content:

MTH 140 Statistics

NUR 340 Health Assessment

NUR 350 Nursing Research & Evidence-based Practice

Progression. The MSN Program follows the ECPI University graduate program policies, including the grading scale. A minimum score of 80 is required for all graduate courses. Grades earned below the minimum of 80 will be awarded an F. Students in graduate programs must maintain a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of a 3.0 or better; students who fall below this requirement will be in SAP Warning status (see Satisfactory Academic Progress – Graduate Programs). Students who receive two grades of F at any time during the program will be dismissed. A student must re-take a course for which a grade of F was earned. Even if the course is repeated, the original earned grade counts as one of those attempts and the student may not receive another grade of F.

Student Evaluation. The faculty uses the program student learning outcomes and course objectives within individual courses as criteria for student evaluation. A graduate portfolio is created across the curriculum and submitted as evidence of accomplishment of the student learning outcomes in the final nursing course. Student grades are determined by a variety of formative and summative evaluation methods.