For more information contact:
Brenda Sheingold, sonbhs@gwumc.edu
Kelly Hart, sonkbh@gwumc.edu

What is the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)?
NCQA is a private, 501(c) not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. Since its founding in 1990, NCQA has been a central figure in driving improvement throughout the health care system, helping to elevate the issue of health care quality to the top of the national agenda.
Health plans in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are NCQA Accredited. These plans cover 109 million Americans or 70.5 percent of all Americans enrolled in health plans.

For more information, please, follow this link http://www.ncqa.org/.

How is the NCQA/MSN in Health Care Quality different from other MSN programs?
Our program is offered in partnership with NCQA, an international leader in managed care quality improvement. The focus of healthcare reform on value-based practice, the trend toward bundled payment and pay for performance insures that nurses need to master QI techniques in data collection, analysis, and measurement. Recent research has shown that nurses benefit most from quality programs taught by a faculty experts dedicated to QI concepts and applications.

Our Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) in Health Care Quality program provides nurses with the advanced skills necessary to identify gaps between current care and evidence-based practice, and to design, test, implement, and evaluate quality improvement (QI) activities in a variety of healthcare settings.

Who should contemplate an MSN in Quality?
Nurses who are interested in leveraging their education and knowledge base to expand career opportunities in the following areas:

• Policy analysis
• Systems analysis
• Performance measurement
• Project management
• Operational efficiency expertise
• Clinical indicator development
• Continuing education
• Research
• Consultation
  

Is the GRE required for admission?
The GRE is not required for admission.

What is the cost per credit hour?
The 2010-2011 cost for the programs in the School of Nursing is $628 per credit hour plus a $35 registration fee each semester. Tuition may change without notice.

How are courses delivered?
GW uses an online platform called Blackboard to teach courses. Students log onto the system to view instructor postings, interact with colleagues, submit assignments, and complete projects.

Is there flexibility while taking classes for the student?
Adults returning to school face diverse and multifaceted challenges in their daily lives. The Health Care Quality program staff and advisors will work with individuals to adjust the program to meet their needs. The program is designed to permit the completion of two courses per semester to allow for a balance of work, school and personal life.

Health care quality MSN students are held to George Washington University academic standards. Flexibility exists more in terms of scheduling and completion of program requirements. Within that context, students are allowed to take a single course per semester only when necessary.

Are there any on-campus requirements?
During the course, NURS 203 Nursing Leadership, there is an on-campus component called the Nursing Leadership Institute. This 3 and 1/2 day symposium is held usually in the summer semester around mid-July. There, prominent health care quality leaders instruct students on implementing leadership skills into daily practice. Students are notified of the institute dates at least six months in advance. When students register for NURS 203, they are automatically enrolled in the Leadership Institute. The institute is preceded by seven weeks of online course work.

The institute also provides students with the opportunity to meet one another and their faculty members, consult with their advisers, visit campus, visit NCQA National Headquarters, and tour Washington, D.C.

How many hours should I expect to devote to studying per week?
For each graduate course, you should count on 10 to 12 hours per week. This includes reading and all other course assignments. Weekly time commitments vary from course to course. Some assignments are due each week and some assignments have a future date. You will know from the course syllabus.

Are there any scholarships or grants that the applicant can apply for?
While the program does not offer scholarship funds at this time, we are happy to direct our students to financial aid options, including the following:

ASQ’s Healthcare Division- Florence Nightingale
One annual $2,000 scholarship
http://www.asq.org/health/about/awards-health.html

Tylenol Scholarship
$250,000 in scholarship funds
http://www.tylenol.com/page.jhtml?id=tylenol/news/subptyschol.inc

U.S Department of Health & Human Services- HRSA National Health Services Corps
http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/

Indian Health Service
http://www.ihs.gov/JobsCareerDevelop/DHPS/scholarships/