Master of Science in Nursing With Emphasis in Nursing Education Bridge Pathway
Bridge the Gap To Obtaining Your MSN
The MSN with nursing education emphasis bridge pathway prepares you with the fundamentals to become a nurse educator and healthcare advocate across diverse settings.
Offered through the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, the Master of Science in Nursing with an Emphasis in Nursing Education Bridge Pathway is designed for current registered nurses who aspire to become nurse educators. The bridge pathway requires a previous bachelor’s degree with a 3.0 minimum GPA to be eligible.
By completing the MSN bridge pathway coursework, you build the educational foundation you need to gain entry into an MSN program, where you will complete coursework geared toward a career as a nurse educator in clinical or academic settings. The Master of Science in Nursing with an Emphasis in Nursing Education degree is the next step for those who complete this bridge pathway. This MSN degree prepares you to advocate for patients and nursing professionals for a career as a nurse educator.
Focus on Nursing Education Courses With This MSN Bridge Pathway
The curriculum for this MSN bridge pathway with a nursing education emphasis includes seven courses developed to bridge the gap from bachelor- to master’s-level study. Topic areas include:
- Nursing practice models and dynamics
- Patient health assessment
- Statistical analysis and methods in healthcare
- Nursing research methods and tools
- Community and public health practice
- Pathophysiological processes of disease
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Take Courses on Nursing Education With This MSN Bridge Pathway
The education courses you will take for this MSN bridge pathway with nursing education emphasis develops your skills in curriculum design, theories of teaching and learning, as well as instructional strategies across cultural and generational backgrounds. An in-person advanced practice clinical experience and an in-person education practicum experience provides you the opportunity to integrate the role of nurse educator into your selected practice setting.
Your nursing coursework begins with studying the role of the advanced nurse, domestic and global healthcare policy, ethics and leadership, health informatics and research analysis from the perspective of a master’s-prepared nurse. Courses in advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology and health assessment take into consideration your role as an educator.
MSN With Emphasis in Nursing Education Bridge Pathway FAQs
Explore some of our frequently asked questions about becoming a nurse educator and earning your online master’s in nursing with nursing education emphasis degree for those with a previous bachelor's degree.
The MSN bridge online pathway in nursing education emphasis at GCU consists of 24 total credits to completion. Each class of this online pathway is five weeks in length, with the exception of your professional 10-week practicum.
After completing the MSN bridge pathway with a nursing education emphasis, you will have the knowledge and skills you need to enter the Master of Science in Nursing with an Emphasis in Nursing Education program. Nursing bridge pathways are designed to bridge the knowledge gap for current nurses with a bachelor’s degree so that they may be successful in earning their MSN degree in their graduate program.
Core Courses
Course Description
This course is an introduction to the Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education, the role of the professional nurse, and the importance of effective nursing leadership. Standards of practice, differentiated nursing practice, professional accountability, interprofessional collaboration, and quality improvement are emphasized with importance placed on the application of leadership styles and management skills.
Course Description
This course focuses on methods of health history taking, physical examination skills, and documentation. Students integrate assessment skills and clinical judgment/reasoning in identifying actual or potential health problems and needs across the life span. Health promotion strategies are incorporated to provide for the unique needs of the individual, ensuring person-centered care. The course emphasizes the importance of providing compassionate care dealing with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Students design plans of care based on evidence-based research and practice.
Course Description
This course focuses on the community as the patient taking into account varying cultures, spiritual values, geographic norms, and economic conditions. The course examines social determinants of health, including social, legal, and political variables impacting individual, community, and population health across the life span. Students use epidemiological data, functional health pattern assessments, and nursing theories to plan and intervene in areas of health promotion and disease prevention across the life span.
Course Description
This course is designed to build upon existing knowledge of the pathophysiological processes of disease as they affect patients across the life span, recognizing the nurse's multidimensional role in health promotion and disease management and prevention, which include biological, environmental, social, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. Integration of nutritional and pharmacological concepts encourages critical thinking and application of nursing interventions. Prerequisite: NRS-420.
Course Description
This is an introductory course on concepts of statistics, emphasizing applications to health care professions. The course is designed to prepare learners to understand concepts of statistics and the appropriateness of statistical methods used in published research papers and a variety of settings. Areas of emphasis include an introduction to the statistical analysis concepts of variable/reliability factors; P values; experimental design; descriptive statistics, including mean, median, and mode; sampling methods; and power analysis.
Course Description
This writing-intensive course promotes the use of research findings as a basis for improving clinical practice. Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies are analyzed with an emphasis on the critical review of research studies and their application to clinical practice. Students develop evidence-based practice recommendations from the critical analysis of available literature guided by a PICOT question. Prerequisite: HLT-362V.
Course Description
The final course in the program is writing-intensive. It will integrate the academic and practical knowledge students have acquired throughout the program’s curriculum. Students participate in planned clinical experiences that refine professional competencies at the baccalaureate level and enable them to integrate new knowledge and enhanced skills to advance nursing practice. Clinical practice hours are dedicated to learning objectives in leadership and community health. The evidence-based project provides students an opportunity to identify a clinical nursing practice issue and propose a possible solution. Students, under the guidance of faculty and approved preceptors, identify and analyze a nurse practice issue, develop a change project, and propose an evidence-based solution that reflects synthesis and integration of course content and professional practice. The evidence-based project development is guided by the baccalaureate program learning outcomes. Clinical hours: 100. 50 hours in leadership and 50 hours in community health. Prerequisite: NRS-415, NRS-420, NRS-425, HLT-362V, NRS-445, PHI-413V, NRS-450, NRS-455, NRS-460.
- GCU cannot and will not promise job placement, a job, graduate school placement, transfer of GCU program credits to another institution, promotion, salary, or salary increase. Please see the Career Services Policy in the University Policy Handbook.
- Please note that this list may contain programs and courses not presently offered, as availability may vary depending on class size, enrollment and other contributing factors. If you are interested in a program or course listed herein please first contact your University Counselor for the most current information regarding availability.
- Please refer to the Academic Catalog for more information. Programs or courses subject to change
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