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Direct Entry MSN Curriculum

Curriculum Details

  • 24 courses
  • 68 credits
  • 612 practicum hours
  • 14-week semester

In North Park’s Direct-Entry MSN courses, you’ll develop high-level thinking in nursing across the lifespan, population health, evidence-based practice and quality improvement, leadership, and professional identity and communication.

In addition to in-depth coursework, you’ll complete simulation and skill labs as well as clinical rotations at our diverse partner facilities in the Chicagoland area. Most courses are 14 weeks long. Our clinical coordinator will help you find placement opportunities that align with your interests.

Graduate in 20 months ready to sit for the NCLEX-RN exam to become licensed as a registered nurse.

Build on Your Direct Entry MSN and Earn Your DNP

Nurses who complete this program can continue toward their doctorate through the Direct Entry MSN to DNP pathway. Advanced coursework and practicum experiences deepen your leadership skills and strengthen your clinical judgment, helping you improve health outcomes at the individual and systems levels. After completing the DEMSN curriculum, students continue DNP coursework while working in a clinical environment. Students will start clinical hours after approximately one year of RN practice.

Required Courses

Credits

Professional identity develops from the individual student’s background, identity, and previous educational experiences. This course provides a framework for the formation and cultivation of a sustainable professional nursing identity. This is rooted in the mission and vision of the North Park University School of Nursing, the history of the nursing profession, unique nursing ways of knowing, and the development of scholarship and knowledge for excellence in nursing practice. Course content focuses on foundational critical thinking in communication, informatics, and ethics which are necessary to professional nursing practice.
Basic mechanisms underlying illness and disease are stressed as a basis for the understanding of health promotion and disease prevention in this first of two sequential courses. Pathophysiological changes that occur within the internal environment of individuals in the presence of dysfunction or disease of selected systems are presented as a rationale for nursing diagnoses and therapeutic interventions. System variations across the life span (fetuses, children, pregnant women, adults, and older adults) are addressed.
Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of drug therapy across the lifespan are discussed to provide a basic understanding of the patient’s reaction to a drug both therapeutically and adversely and to predict potential drug interactions. Personal, genetic, and environmental factors affecting drug therapy are assessed to provide a comprehensive base for therapeutic nursing interventions. Specific prototypes of selected drug classifications provide the framework for understanding the action, use, adverse effects, and nursing implications of drugs. The nurse’s role in drug administration, assessment of drug effects, and patient education are emphasized. Legal and ethical responsibilities for administering drugs are considered.
Skills necessary to perform holistic patient assessment and introductory clinical assessment skills are discussed and demonstrated. Students demonstrate cognitive and psychomotor competencies in the assessment of individual patients across the lifespan. Emphasis is on interviewing techniques, physical examination skills, and psychomotor skills for safe nursing practice. Developmental factors and risk factors including genetic and environmental affecting patient health will also be explored. 
Concepts basic to the art and science of nursing are introduced as a foundation for safe, quality patient care. Emphasis is placed on the patient and/or designee as the source of control and full partner in providing compassionate and coordinated care. Evidence-based principles of nursing and health promotion are integrated to prepare the student to meet the health-related needs of a patient. The nurse’s role as a member of the interdisciplinary team will be examined.
Evidence-based clinical reasoning is applied in the care of individual patients with acute and chronic illness to ensure safe and quality outcomes. Emphasis is placed on the patient and/or designee as the source of control and full partner in providing compassionate and coordinated care. Tools of communication and technology are utilized in the delivery and documentation of care. The role of the nurse within the interdisciplinary team is demonstrated.
Ethical principles are applied to the care of persons in diverse settings. Team building and group process skills are explored to facilitate students working within teams. The role of the nurse as a member of the interprofessional team is examined using concepts of ethics, advocacy, group process, and team building. The professional responsibilities and role of the advocate will be explored. Contemporary issues confronting the nursing profession are discussed and methods to advocate for the profession are investigated. Professional skills, such as job interviewing, portfolio development, and examination of advanced roles in nursing, will be emphasized.
Building on NURS 5230, this course expands knowledge of pathophysiological changes that occur within the environments of the individual in the presence of dysfunction or disease. The most common alterations in selected physiological systems are presented as a framework for clinical reasoning. Relevant risk factors, epidemiology, pathophysiologic mechanisms, and clinical manifestations across the life span (fetuses, children, pregnant women, adults, and older adults) are discussed.
In this second sequential course, students continue their study of pharmacology across the lifespan. Specific prototypes of selected drug classifications provide the framework for understanding the action, use, adverse effects, and nursing implications of drugs. The nurse’s role in drug administration, assessment of drugs’ effects, and patient education are emphasized. Legal and ethical responsibilities for administering drugs are considered.
A greater sophistication of clinical reasoning is developed to achieve safe and quality outcomes using multiple ways of knowing including nursing knowledge. Emphasis is placed on managing the care of patients experiencing acute and chronic illnesses and promoting health across the lifespan. Strategies to empower and engage patients/designees in all aspects of the health care process are examined. Evidence-based therapeutic nursing interventions that meet a patient’s holistic health needs will be expanded. Perspectives of other health care members will be recognized in order to collaborate and work effectively as a team to provide interdisciplinary care. Technology and communication skills are integrated as methods to support safe processes of care.
Students engage patients in active partnerships to manage acute and chronic illness and promote health across the lifespan. Multiple sources of evidence are incorporated into the planning, implementation, and evaluation of nursing care including nurse-sensitive quality indicators. Coordination, integration, and continuity of care for multiple patients will be applied in the healthcare microenvironment. Emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary collaboration to ensure safe and quality outcomes. Technology and information management tools are utilized to support safe processes of care.
Development of a microsystem leader supports the student’s understanding of nursing leadership opportunities at all levels of nursing practice. Emphasis will be placed on building and growing teams, modeling a culture of quality and safety, and resource utilization, allocation, and financial management. Students will be given the opportunity to demonstrate effective decision-making and clinical judgment while exploring their role in the healthcare microsystem.
Continuous quality improvement is introduced as a foundation for quality care and patient safety. Methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of healthcare systems and concepts of evidence-based practice (EBP) and healthcare research are explored. Methods to critically appraise healthcare research will be applied. Critical appraisal of evidence will be employed to inform the delivery of safe and quality nursing care
The nurse’s role in assuring coordination, integration, and continuity of care is investigated. Integration of the physical, behavioral, psychological, spiritual, socioeconomic, and environmental factors that influence patient-centered care is explored with a focus on understanding risk reduction, protective and predictive factors, and the systems influencing the mental and physical health of individuals, families, and communities. The nursing process is applied to assess health and illness beliefs, assets, and barriers to health and to explore historical, social, political and economic forces impacting the health of communities. Theoretical models and frameworks are explored to promote health, behavior change and chronic disease management
Coordination, integration, and continuity of care for diverse patients with multiple/complex problems will be applied in dynamic microenvironments such as mental health, and community settings. Patients/designees are engaged in active partnerships that promote health, safety, well-being, and self-care management. There is a concentrated focus on leadership in health promotion that provides safe, effective, and efficient care. Leadership concepts such as systems theory, quality improvement, economics, and evidence are applied. Students are provided opportunities for inter-professional collaboration in the planning of health care and promotion of quality outcomes for diverse populations. Application of advanced epidemiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology and physical assessment will be examined.

This course focuses on the identification, analysis, and implementation of communication strategies to facilitate formation of successful teams and partnerships. Students will develop a comprehensive knowledge of principles of adult learning and will examine clinical reasoning, judgment, and decision making in addressing the needs of diverse patients and populations across the life span. Emphasis will be placed on developing group leadership skills, building teams through communication and partnership, and conflict management in the light of change.

Nursing practice in an evolving health care system is addressed with emphasis on the unique challenges presented to the nurse. The role of the nurse as provider of direct and indirect patient care is expanded to include the external influences of the health care organization, the regulatory environment, and the professional association. The development of the nurse as a member of a profession is expected. Inherent is developing knowledge and appreciation for the diversity of opinions and organizations that exist to provide assistance in the delivery of direct patient care.
Comprehensive and focused evidence-based care of patients in diverse populations with complex health conditions will be examined. The nurse’s role in assuring coordination, integration, and continuity of care is investigated. Integration of the physical, behavioral, psychological, spiritual, socioeconomic, and environmental factors that influence patient-centered care is explored. Collaboration with other health care team members to provide safe and quality care for diverse patients in a variety of complex settings is analyzed. Information management tools to monitor outcomes of care are evaluated.
Coordination, integration, and continuity of care for diverse patients with multiple/complex problems will be applied in dynamic microenvironments such as maternity, and critical care. Patients/designees are engaged in active partnerships that promote health, safety, well-being, and self-care management. Synthesis of evidence and collaboration with other members of the health care team are used to plan, implement, and evaluate safe and quality care for patients. Technologies that support clinical decision-making, error prevention, and care coordination are emphasized.

This course focuses on the evaluation and development of evidence-based approaches to improve practice, health outcomes, and the care environment. Emphasis is placed on utilizing theories in nursing research, evidence-based practice, and quality improvement; analyzing evidence; identifying knowledge gaps; developing strategies to generate and disseminate new evidence; and planning approaches for translating evidence into practice. Cultural and lifespan considerations of evidence-based practice approaches are addressed. Ethical considerations of evidence appraisal, development, and implementation are identified. This course serves as the foundation for synthesis and development of nursing knowledge in clinical (capstone) projects. Students must have completed an undergraduate statistics or equivalent course and an undergraduate nursing research course.

In this culminating course, a preceptor model of learning professional nursing practice provides opportunities to synthesize and integrate previous learning experiences. Emphasis is placed on the roles of the nurse as provider of indirect and direct care; designer, manager and coordinator of care; and member of the profession. The focus is on the transition to the professional nursing role, recognizing the organizational, social, political, economic, ethical, and legal context in which interdisciplinary health care is delivered in a selected clinical setting.
Students integrate concepts discussed in the classroom with competencies learned from the clinical setting. The course is a synthesis of learning from the entire curriculum that will guide students into their role as new nurses. Using guided reflective journal writing, students begin building a skill set that shows comprehensive knowledge of and appreciation for the roles of direct care provider; designer, manager and coordinator of care; and member of a profession.

This course examines how health care delivery systems are organized and financed and the economic, political, and regulatory factors that influence the planning and delivery of healthcare services across the continuum of care. Emphasis is placed on utilizing health system data sets, quality improvement tools, and evidence-based practice to optimize patient safety and health outcomes. Students apply economic, systems, and organizational principles in evaluating the structure, function, and delivery of health care in the U.S. and participate in the development of policies to improve health care. The utilization of information technology to support the coordination, improvement, and delivery of care is explored.

This course examines epidemiologic and public health principles to analyze needs and plan for care of populations across the lifespan. Social, cultural, environmental, and genetic determinants of health are explored; risk assessment and root causes of illness are examined. Health promotion and educational methods are critiqued, and levels of prevention applied in developing programs for at-risk populations. Building on local context, the urban, multicultural, national, and global influences on population health are explored.

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