Program Requirements

Courses in the Research Core (6 Semester Hours)
NURS 6270: Research Methods for Health Professionals I (3)
NURS 6271: Research Methods for Health Professionals II (3)

Courses in the Professional Core (15 Semester Hours)
HSCI 6241: Healthcare Enterprise (3)
NURS 6201: Theoretical Foundations in Nursing (3)
NURS 6202: Concepts in Population Health (3)
NURS 6203: Nursing Leadership*(3)
NURS 6275: Leadership and Change in Nursing (3)

Required Courses in the Field of Clinical Research Administration (18 semester hours)
HCQ 6201: Building A Quality Culture (3)
HCQ 6202: Health Care Quality Landscape (3)
HCQ 6203: Quality Improvement Science in Health Care (3)
HCQ 6204: Health Care Quality Measurement, Data Management and Analysis (3)
HCQ 6205: Patient Safety Systems (3)

* This course has an on-campus component.

Sample Programs of Study

 

RESEARCH CORE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

NURS 6270: Research Methods for Health Professionals I: This course provides an overview of the role of evidence-based knowledge and research in everyday professional work. Students will be introduced to several bodies of literature to better understand 1) an interdisciplinary perspective on health, and 2) multiple frameworks available to support research questions. As the basis for life-long learning, students will learn to critique articles and base decisions on available evidence. Students will practice and develop personal strategies for staying current with the literature and how to become educated consumers of research. Students will identify a research topic and complete a literature review.

NURS 6271: Research Methods for Health Professionals II: This course continues work initiated in Research Methods I. In this course, students will build upon their knowledge and skills pertaining to the evaluation of evidence, the development of a research question and the design of a methodology appropriate for the inquiry. An understanding of the mechanics and fundamental components of data analysis will also be covered.

PROFESSIONAL CORE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

HSCI 6241: Healthcare Enterprise: An overview of global business principles related to health care systems with focus on the management of patient-centered care delivery, marketing, finance and fiscal management principles, information technology, and quality improvement in health care systems.

NURS 6201: Theoretical Foundations in Nursing: Evaluates and analyzes the theoretical foundation of nursing. An overview of various philosophical schools of thought, with an emphasis on ontology and epistemology. Will enable the graduate level nurse to develop a framework for practice.

NURS 6202: Concepts in Population Health: Enables the graduate level nurse to integrate and synthesize concepts associated with quality, health promotion, disease prevention and chronic health problems with communities, the general population and specific population groups. Address issues of culturally diverse and vulnerable populations.

NURS 6203: Nursing Leadership: Through a self-reflection process, students learn evidence-based leadership skills as a core competency in nursing to improve quality in patient care and strengthen nursing as a profession. Emphasis on theories of leadership, skills building through mentoring and communication, team building techniques, etc. This course includes an on-campus component.

NURS 6275*: Leadership and Change in Nursing: A capstone course focusing on the concept of leadership within the contexts of health professionals health systems, and health policy. Organizational, management, and change theories and characteristics of personal and professional leadership are explored. This course has an on-campus component.

QUALTIY COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

HCQ 6201: Building a Quality Culture: Analysis of quality and patient safety challenges in US health care with a focus on political and environmental influences.

HCQ 6202: The Health Care Quality Landscape: Application of leadership and organizational change theories and principles to the implementation of quality and patient safety initiatives. Focus on strategies for developing the culture and infrastructure needed to support patient safety and continuous quality improvement.

HCQ 6203: Quality Improvement Science in Health Care: An introduction to quality improvement and patient safety theories, models, methods and tools and their application to quality and safety improvement challenges in health care.

HCQ 6204: Health Care Quality Measurement, Data Management and Analysis: Application of measurement, data management and statistical analysis principles to quality improvement and patient safety challenges. Focus on the importance and design of effective measures and the selection of appropriate analysis tools.

HCQ 6205: Patient Safety Systems: An examination of the epidemiology and sources of error in health care, risk assessment, and the design of processes and systems to improve patient safety. Focus on the application of process and technology-based systems to reduce the incidence of error.