Section I: The Request
Utah Valley University and the College of Science and Health requests approval to offer a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree program effective Fall 2009.
Section II: Program Description
Complete Program Description
The Master of Science in Nursing program prepares post-baccalaureate nursing students for advanced practice roles as nurse educators in academic settings and/or clinical nurse educators in healthcare institutions. The program includes core courses essential to master-level nursing programs as well as courses designed to prepare nurses to assume roles as academic nurse educators and/or clinical nurse educators. Program content focuses on theoretical foundations of nursing education and leadership; tests and measurements of learning outcomes; curriculum development, implementation and evaluation; and academic and clinical teaching. Program courses provide skills and strategies for facilitation of learning in a variety of settings. The program curriculum and course descriptions may be viewed in Appendix A.
Purpose of Degree
The purpose of the Master of Science in Nursing degree is three fold: 1) to provide access to graduate nursing education in Utah County and southern areas of the state, 2) to increase the number of academic and clinical nurse educators available in Utah and beyond, and 3) to improve access to quality nursing education for greater numbers of undergraduate nursing students. Only one graduate level nursing program is currently offered in Utah south of Salt Lake County (the Family Nurse Practitioner program offered at Brigham Young University). The proposed Master of Science in Nursing program would offer additional opportunities for baccalaureate prepared nurses to continue their education in addition to increasing the number of nurse educators employed in academic and healthcare settings. The current lack of qualified nurse educators in academic and clinical settings negatively impacts the number of students able to graduate from professional nursing programs (National League for Nursing, 2005). By increasing the number of qualified nursing faculty, more students can be accepted into nursing programs thereby decreasing the nursing shortage of both professional nurses working in healthcare institutions and nursing faculty working in academic settings.
In today’s healthcare environment, professional nurses are critical for patient safety and quality patient outcomes. The current shortage of nurses and nurse educators is compounded by the aging nursing workforce, and more importantly, the aging of nursing faculty. The proposed MSN program will add to the quality of patient care by increasing the level of education for nurses who desire to contribute to nursing through education rather than/or in addition to direct patient care roles. Graduate level education allows nurses to be used within varied healthcare environments in multiple ways including mentoring of undergraduate nurses and unlicensed personnel, clinical nurse education, and management of nursing units. Providing graduate level education also increases available pools from which to obtain future academic and clinical faculty members proactively meeting current market demands.
Institutional Readiness
Utah Valley University is in the process of developing the first three graduate programs in the areas of nursing, education and business. For this development, a UVU Graduate Council has been formed to review the process and provide leadership regarding admissions, curriculum and policy. The institution anticipates the organization of an office of graduate studies in the future as necessary. In addition, the Department of Nursing has established a MSN committee to oversee department graduate level program issues regarding curriculum design, admission requirements, faculty qualifications, policies and program outcomes.
The existing structure in the College of Science and Health--under the direction of the dean and in coordination with the chair of the Department of Nursing, nursing faculty and staff--is well prepared to initiate the proposed MSN program. The MSN degree is strongly supported by the University President, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of the College of Science and Health, Chair of the Department of Nursing, and nursing faculty.
It is anticipated that most classes will be offered in the evenings or as once-a-week block classes to accommodate the graduate nurse population already employed full-time in the nursing profession. Thus, classroom space should not be problematic given the decreased demand for evening or weekly block classes that are not offered during prime time. With the addition of two faculty and one administrative assistant positions allocated to the proposed program, some minor adjustments will be necessary for appropriate office space.
The Department of Nursing anticipates that current and proposed newly hired faculty will teach the majority of the graduate courses and serve as project committee chairs and committee members while also teaching in the undergraduate program. Growth of the program and funds allocated in conjunction with university status for UVU will allow hiring of necessary faculty and administrative support.
The MSN program will positively impact the undergraduate degree program with the addition of two new faculty members teaching across both curricula who bring additional expertise and diversity to the current nursing faculty. Undergraduate students also benefit by interaction with graduate students/nurses who serve as role models and provide professional allies within the work force. The addition of the MSN program with the resulting increase in professional expectations and diverse student culture raises the level of the nursing program offered at UVU and increases graduate marketability.
Faculty
Two new faculty members will be hired to adequately cover graduate and undergraduate coursework, supervision, graduate committees, advisement responsibilities, program coordination, accreditation and scholarly work for the first five years of the program. One faculty member is needed for the first year of the program with an additional faculty member needed in the second year. No additional faculty members will be required for years three through five. New faculty will work in both the graduate and undergraduate programs where their expertise optimally benefits program coursework and student learning.
Year 1 / Year 2 / Year 3 / Year 4 / Year 51 faculty / 1 faculty / No new / No new / No new /
Current PhD and EdD nursing faculty members are educationally prepared to offer the MSN program in years one through five. These faculty members hold earned doctorates with varied professional emphases such as nursing education, educational administration, nursing informatics and adult education. The same level of preparedness will be required of new hires during years one and two. No additional formal preparedness will be required for this program, although two faculty members are currently active in PhD/EdD programs.
In addition, the Department of Nursing has established an Education Committee to facilitate educational opportunities for faculty to assure continued expertise and currency in nursing education standards and practice for graduate nursing education programs as assessed and accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Professional development workshops and seminars will continue to be facilitated by the Department of Nursing with guest scholars invited for discussion and problem solving seminars related to graduate level nursing curriculum, standards and accreditation requirements, and other topics or needs as identified by UVU Department of Nursing faculty.
The Department of Nursing is comprised of 17 full-time instructional faculty members. Of these faculty, seven currently have terminal degrees (either PhD or EdD) in a variety of nursing and education fields, two faculty members are currently in doctoral programs, and eight have MS degrees. Eleven faculty members are tenured to the Department of Nursing and six are currently on tenure-track.
Full-time Faculty: Degrees
Doctorate / Active in Doctoral Programs / Master7 (41%) / 2 (12%) / 8 (47%) /
Full-time Faculty: Tenure Status
Tenured / Tenure-track / Non-tenure-track11 (65%) / 6 (35%) / 0 (0%) /
While the Department of Nursing employs several adjunct faculty members in the undergraduate program on an as-needed basis dependent upon program admission numbers, they are utilized only in clinical settings (at healthcare institutions) to supervise nursing students in direct nursing practice and are not utilized as instructional faculty in the academic classroom setting on the UVU campus. Adjunct faculty are typically educated at the master level. It is not anticipated that adjunct faculty will be utilized in the proposed MSN program.
Staff
Because of the increase in clerical work anticipated due to the MSN program, an additional full-time administrative assistant will be needed beginning the first year the degree is offered. No additional staff resources are anticipated years two through five.
Library and Information Resources
A new state-of-the-art library has been constructed on campus and is operational as of Fall 2008. This facility provides exceptional academic support to both undergraduate and graduate students. Current holdings have been sufficient to adequately support the associate and baccalaureate nursing programs and university funding has been set aside to grow the collection. In addition, students and faculty can obtain virtually any journal article in print or full-text at UVU through Interlibrary Loan. This free service provides UVU faculty and students copies of journal articles emailed directly to them and is available from the UVU library homepage.
Utah Valley University belongs to the Utah Academic Library Consortium. Membership in the Consortium provides access to a number of indices, most of which contain full-text articles. Major nursing indices owned by UVU include: Alt-Health Watch, CINAHL Plus Full Text, The Cochrane Library, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, MEDLINE, PubMED, OVID Full Text, and Science Direct Life and Health. Supporting indices include: Academic Search Premiere, Health Course: Consumer Edition, LexisNexis Academic, PsycArticles, Psych Info, Psychology and Behavioral Science Collection and SIRS Researcher.
The recent addition of the Cochrane Library Database brings the world’s best medical research studies to UVU and is recognized as the gold standard in evidence-based healthcare literature. The Cochrane Library contains high quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making and includes reliable evidence from Cochrane and other systematic studies, clinical trials, and more.
Along with the above mentioned resources, a subject matter specialist for nursing and health sciences has been designated by library administration for student consultation and assistance.
Admission Requirements
Acceptance into the MSN program will be based on information from the following:
1. Application for admission to the MSN program.
2. Baccalaureate degree in nursing from a program accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) or the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
3. Current licensure as a registered nurse in the State of Utah or eligibility for registered nurse licensure with completion of licensure process within 90 days of coursework commencement.
4. Completion of an undergraduate course in statistics which included descriptive and inferential components.
5. Submission of Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores.
6. Overall undergraduate GPA of 3.2 or higher or GPA of 3.2 or higher in the last 60 semester hours of undergraduate coursework.
7. Three professional letters of recommendation from referees who can assess applicant potential for success.
Student Advisement
Graduate student advisement is traditionally supervised by graduate nursing faculty serving as committee chairs and members. Upon acceptance to the MSN program, students will meet with the Department of Nursing Advisor and the MSN Committee chair for assistance with the registration process. The MSN Committee chair will continue advisement until a committee chair is selected by each student during the first semester of the program. Students will select a committee chair and members and complete the committee selection form at which time the selected committee chair will assume advisement and mentoring responsibilities. The selected committee chair will continue advisement and mentoring of the student through the remainder of the program. The MSN Committee chair and the Department of Nursing Advisor will meet with students prior to program completion to clear all students for graduation.
Committee chairs will mentor students through the program; meet with students as needed but at least once each semester to monitor progress; support students through project/thesis proposal, implementation and completion; participate in project/thesis defense; and sign-off on program completion forms. Committee members will assist the committee chair and support students in a similar fashion.
Justification for Graduation Standards and Number of Credits
Graduation standards listed below will demonstrate student acquisition of intended program outcomes and standards:
1. Completion of all courses with a grade of B or better (GPA of 3.0 or better).
2. Graduate project/thesis completed, defended and accepted by the Department of Nursing MSN Committee.
The Master of Science in Nursing program requires 31–35 credit hours (dependent upon the number of project/thesis hours) which is within the recommended credit levels established by the Utah System of Higher Education and similar programs throughout the country.
External Review and Accreditation
During program development, similar programs were examined regarding curriculum design, admission requirements and graduation standards. University of Northern Colorado, California State University, Idaho State University, University of Arizona, Indiana University and University of Utah nursing education master level programs have curriculum and instruction programs similar to the MSN program proposed by the UVU Department of Nursing.
Accreditation standards for master level nursing programs were also examined as published by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The MSN program curriculum was developed using NLNAC graduate program standards and the National League for Nursing Core Competencies of Nurse Educators. It is anticipated and intended that the program will be in compliance with accreditation standards and successfully achieve accreditation. The undergraduate nursing program has maintained continuous NLNAC accreditation since 1991 with the most current accreditation received in October 2003. The MSN program will also request accreditation through the NLNAC with anticipated review in Spring of 2011. No additional costs other than costs incurred for the actual accreditation review are anticipated in achieving accreditation status.
Projected Enrollment
Year / Student Headcount / # of Faculty / Student-to-Faculty Ratio / Accreditation Req’d Ratio1 / 12 / 1 / 1:12 / No Requirement /
2 / 24 / 2 / 1:12 /
3 / 24 / 2 / 1:12 /
4 / 24 / 2 / 1:12 /
5 / 24 / 2 / 1:12 /
Expansion of Existing Program