Master of Science in Nursing Program
For Clinical Nurse Leader and Nursing Education
Program Director: Dr. Angela Taylor
The Master of Science in Nursing program is designed for students who have graduated from accredited baccalaureate nursing programs with current unrestricted nursing licenses. It offers emphases in Clinical Nurse Leader and Nursing Education for full- and part-time students who want to actively engage in meeting the evolving health-care needs of patients and families. Both programs require thirty-seven credit hours for completion and utilize clinical practicum sites that include hospitals, clinics, and nursing programs in the Central Virginia region.
The emerging role of the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) was developed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in order to address emerging patient care needs, with the primary roles of the CNL being a lateral integrator of health care services, advocate for the patient and the health-care organization, and quality improvement facilitator. The CNL is an advanced generalist nurse who will continue to provide expert bedside care and provide care management to patients on a unit-based level. The CNL program is intended for those nurses who desire to remain in staff nursing positions and aspire to do so with advanced knowledge and education.
The Nursing Education emphasis addresses nursing faculty shortages as it offers an opportunity to recruit and educate qualified individuals who can assume the responsibilities of faculty and staff development educators. The Nurse Educator role provides opportunities to conduct research and further nursing education science. The Nurse Educator program is intended for those nurses who are interested in pursuing a position as a unit-based educator, a staff development educator, or a nursing faculty member.
Students will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to:
- Analyze the role of the nurse as leader and follower within the interdisciplinary team
- Demonstrate the ability to use nursing research and evidence-based nursing practice to improve nursing practice and nursing education
- Analyze the effect of external forces such as economics, legislation, politics, technology, globalization, culture, and health care policy on the health care system
- Incorporate knowledge of ethics, health care policy, and economics into practice
- Use oral, written, and electronic communication strategies to communicate effectively with individuals and groups
- Synthesize knowledge from the sciences, humanities, and nursing to promote optimum nursing care
In addition, students in the Clinical Nurse Leader Program will:
- Use leadership and management skills at the unit level of care to manage complex health care situations.
- Apply advanced nursing skills to implement innovative strategies, evaluate patient outcomes, and modify plans of care
- Apply information technology and economic theories at the unit level of nursing to improve patient outcomes and nursing care
In addition, students in the Nursing Education Program will:
- Develop and implement nursing curricula based on sound educational theory and pedagogical practices
- Apply innovative teaching-learning strategies to the development and implementation of nursing educational programs
- Apply formative and summative evaluation practices to revise and enhance nursing education
Contact information:
Dr. Angela Taylor, M.S.N. Program Director, 434/544-8901 or taylor.a@lynchburg.edu.