Entry Level Master of Science in Nursing

NURS 200. Introduction to Pathophysiology and Pharmacology. 5 Units.

Students examine complex physiologic processes essential to the understanding of diseases. Disease management concepts are explored in relation to body systems. Age specific alterations are correlated with clinical and medical diagnostic findings to provide the student a basis for biomedical and nursing clinical decision-making, diagnostic reasoning, and pharmacotherapeutics. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 202. Professional Nursing and Current Issues. 3 Units.

This course provides an overview and a historical perspective of the profession, social contexts, professional standards, ethical standards, legal issues, and socialization into the profession. This course assists the student to gain a state-wide and national perspective for the profession. Current nursing issues will be discussed. Evidence-based practice and theory are introduced to focus students on current strategies to advance patient outcomes and improve health care. Prerequisite: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 208. Nursing Fundamentals & Intro to Health Assessment. 7 Units.

This course provides the student with knowledge and skills foundational to nursing. Skill acquisition will be practiced, and competencies verified through skills/simulation labs. Students will develop competencies in conducting health histories and physical assessments across the lifespan. Clinical experiences may be incorporated in non-acute healthcare settings to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from the classroom/lab to the clinical setting. Prerequisite: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 212. Nursing of Adults I. 7 Units.

This course introduces nursing concepts for caring for adult clients with chronic illness, emphasizing the nursing process, pathophysiology, and pharmacology. Students apply these principles in assessing, planning, implementing care, and evaluating outcomes. The curriculum integrates research evidence and clinical guidelines with caring principles to provide holistic care, promote health, and advocate for patients. Clinical experiences with a focus on medical/surgical nursing skills, are conducted in acute care hospitals. Prerequisite: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 213. Intro to Evidence-based Practice and Informatics. 3 Units.

Explores nursing research and information management as the foundation for evidence-based practice, clinical and organizational decision-making and the improvement of outcomes in health care. Prerequisite: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 214. Mental Health Nursing. 5 Units.

Introduction to mental health nursing services and nurse-person and nurse-group communication patterns.  Focus is on interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching-learning, therapeutic communication, and change-persistence patterns with health promotion, disease prevention, and care of individuals, families, and communities of diverse cultural backgrounds with acute and chronic mental health conditions.  Nursing services with special populations, including the homeless and issues regarding abuse, neglect, trauma, and substance abuse are explored. Students will complete supervised clinical practice hours with a clinical faculty member in a mental health setting. Prerequisite: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 216. Nursing of Adults II. 7 Units.

This course focuses on nursing concepts for managing adult clients in acute and critical care settings, emphasizing the use of the nursing process, pathophysiology, and pharmacology. Students apply these principles in assessing, planning, implementing care, and evaluating outcomes. The curriculum integrates research evidence and clinical guidelines with caring principles to provide holistic care, promote health, and advocate for patients in acute and critical conditions. Clinical experiences with a focus on medical/surgical nursing skills are conducted in acute care hospitals and critical care units. Prerequisite: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 216A. Nursing of Adults and Older Adults II. 4 Units.

Building on the integrated knowledge and competencies from Nursing of Adults and Older Adults I, students will care for complex and chronically ill clients in acute care and settings. Emphasis is placed on the delivery of safe, patient-centered, team-based care that incorporates health promotion, disease prevention, and patient/family education. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 216B. Clinical Practicum: Nursing of Adults and Older Adults II. 3 Units.

Through advanced clinical experiences, students will enhance their psychomotor and critical thinking/clinical judgment skills to provide safe, patient-centered, team-based care to adults and older adults with complex health conditions. Students will demonstrate safe administration of medications and the clinical competencies that meet both agency and EBP guidelines. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 218. Maternity and Women's Health. 5 Units.

This course emphasizes applying nursing theory and evidenced based clinical judgment in the care of low and high- risk antepartum, intrapartum, neonatal clients, and families of diverse psychosocial and cultural backgrounds. Family theory, systems theory, developmental theories, and the nursing process serve as an organizing framework for this population of clients. Prerequisite: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 218A. Maternity and Women's Health Care. 2 Units.

This course emphasizes applying nursing theory and evidence-based clinical judgment in the care of low and high risk antepartum, intrapartum, post partum, neonatal clients, and families of diverse psychosocial and cultural backgrounds. Family theory, systems theory, developmental theories, and the nursing process serve as an organizing framework for this population of clients. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 218B. Clinical Practicum: Maternity and Women's Health Care. 2 Units.

In this practicum course, students will use theory and evidence-based clinical judgment in the care of low and high-risk antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum, and neonatal clients. Students will gain skills and competencies in critical thinking/clinical judgment, psychomotor, and communication skills to develop competence in the care of antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum clients, neonates, and families. Students will also participate in simulated learning experiences. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 220. Nursing Care of Children. 5 Units.

This course applies nursing theory and uses evidence-based clinical judgment in the care of children and adolescents with acute and chronic illnesses. An additional focus will be on child growth and development, health promotion, health prevention, and family-centered care of diverse populations. Prerequisite: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 220A. Nursing Care of Children. 3 Units.

This course applies nursing theory and uses evidence-based clinical judgment in the care of children and adolescents with acute and chronic illnesses. An additional focus will be on child growth and development, health promotion, health prevention, and family-centered care of diverse populations. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 220B. Clinical Practicum: Nursing Care of Children. 3 Units.

This course provides clinical care experiences in acute, sub-acute, chronic, and ambulatory care settings. Family-centered care provides the framework for this course. Students will also participate in competency-based simulated learning experiences. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 222. Evidence-Based Research in Health Care. 3 Units.

The role of the master's prepared nurse in knowledge generation, dissemination, and application within collaborative inter-professional teams is emphasized. Students gain knowledge and skills to critically appraise and analyze research findings to apply the best evidence to improve practice. This course prepares students to find and use evidence to support individual clinical practice and appropriately apply evidence to different population-based settings. This course prepares the student for identifying a topic for their clinical improvement project. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 224. Leadership and Management. 3 Units.

This course introduces the leadership roles and management functions of professional registered nurses within the structure of the organization. The management process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling provides the structure for the course. Emphasis is given to organizational theory, management theory, and behavioral theory. Accountability for quality assurance in the provision of nursing care, multidisciplinary communication, and collaborative relationships are emphasized. Various modes of inquiry, including the nursing process, problem-solving models, and decision-making tools are utilized for analyzing complex leadership and management problems common to nurse leaders and managers. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 226. Quality and Safety and Health Care Improvement. 3 Units.

Quality and safety have emerged to provide an evidence-based focused framework for healthcare improvement for systems, safety, and policy. This course is designed to assist professional nurses to utilize the Model for Healthcare Improvement to diagnose, measure, analyze, change, and lead systems improvements in healthcare. Students, working in groups, will analyze clinical problems in their practice setting and develop an improvement science solution using the Plan Do Study Act (Model for Healthcare Improvement) for innovation to improve practice. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 228. Population Health and Applied Epidemiology. 3 Units.

Students will examine individual, collective, environmental, and organizational factors that affect the health of human populations. The focus will include concepts of population assessments for high-risk patients in both acute care and community-based settings. Areas of emphasis will include risk assessment, health promotion, illness prevention, and protection to promote improved management of high acuity clients and populations. Students will use descriptive and analytical approaches to evaluate the distribution of disease within select populations. Interventions for primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention will be explored in the broader context of determinants of health to promote the well-being of individuals and communities. Prerequisites: Admissions to ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 230. Informatics and Technology in Health Care. 3 Units.

This course examines the history of healthcare informatics, current issues, basic informatics concepts, and health information management systems. The use of technology to help make decisions and to improve the health status of the individual, family, and community is emphasized. Students will apply informatics concepts to a current clinical practice setting, suggesting methods to use technology to improve patient safety and work effectiveness. The student will also learn to identify, gather, process, and manage information/data. Prerequisites: Admissions to ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 232. Quality Improvement Project I. 3 Units.

The student will identify a topic (faculty approved) for the clinical improvement project. Students will conduct a comprehensive literature and systematic review of the selected topic. This learning activity will assist the student to focus their project to synthesize previous course work for the ELMSN capstone project. The plan will include the design for the implementation of a quality improvement system's project or an EBP improvement project to improve patient outcomes. Using APA format, a bibliography of resources will be submitted with the project plan. Prerequisites: Admission to ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 233. Teaching & Learning in Nursing. 6 Units.

Students explore how to plan and carry-out instruction on a nursing topic, creating and adapting meaningful lessons and assessment/evaluation strategies for multiple learning environments and learner characteristics. Considering the diverse learning needs and ethical considerations of different learner groups (e.g., nursing students, staff, and patients/caregivers), students examine how to effectively integrate technology tools and develop lessons encompassing those needs Students will complete 135 hours in clinical/classroom/lab/simulation teaching with a faculty preceptor. Prerequisites: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 234. Health Systems Leadership. 3 Units.

This course studies the current complex health care systems of today and challenges nurse leaders to champion improvement in health care delivery systems to improve patient and population health outcomes. Master's prepared nurses are needed to advance from expert clinician to transformational leaders to engage in innovation, positive change, and to actively participate in evidence-based collaborative interdisciplinary solutions. Students will assess their leadership strengths and areas for improvement to develop an action plan to build leadership capacity. Students will acquire competencies in leadership and facilitation skills, organizational systems assessments, financing of health care systems, and theories of change to design new practice models. Prerequisites: Admissions to ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 236. Advanced Pharmacology. 3 Units.

In this course, students will gain advanced pathophysiologic and pharmacological knowledge of chronic illnesses and management of complex high acuity illnesses that impact our health care systems. Management of diabetes will include a skills practicum of medication management, including CGM, and current diabetic medications to assist clients to better manage their blood glucose. Prerequisites: Admission to ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 237. Advanced Pathophysiology. 3 Units.

This course focuses on pathophysiology and disruptions in normal body functioning for individuals across the lifespan. In depth theoretical and clinical principles of diseases, as well as health disparities resulting from genetic, environmental, and stress related causes are included. Assessment findings, diagnostic testing and interventions specific to selected health problems are explored to begin development of critical thinking skills for pathophysiologic causes and treatments of given disease processes. Prerequisites: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 238. Public Health Nursing. 5 Units.

This course will explore the theories and concepts of community, public, and global health. This course will investigate the needs of aggregates in the community setting, including promoting health, preventing disease, and restoring the health of population groups; planning for disasters; addressing environmental health problems; and managing information and communication technology. Planning, organization, and delivery of services for populations at risk are tied to Healthy People 2030 goals with an introduction to leadership, political and sociocultural aspects of community, demographic, and epidemiological methods. Communication, collaboration, and teamwork strategies will be explored along with application of evidence-based practice in multiple community and public health experiential learning opportunities. Prerequisites: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 238A. Public Health and Population-Based Nursing. 3 Units.

This course is designed to assist the nurse to meet the Scope and Standards for Public Health Nursing. These 17 standards provide a broad scope of practice to assess, diagnosis, identify, plan, implement, and evaluate public health and community-based intervention plans. The health of the community and subgroups within the community are the focus of this course. Students will apply nursing and public health standards to promote health, prevent disease, to restore the health of the population. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 238B. Clinical Practicum: Public Health and Population-Based Nursing. 2.5 Units.

This practicum will provide students with a community and public health perspective of the population they serve. Students will complete experiential learning in multiple settings and develop an EBP public health community-based intervention plan to improve the health of a population. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 239. Advanced Health Assessment. 3 Units.

This course focuses on comprehensive physical assessment which includes in-depth health history, physical and psychological signs and symptoms, developmental stages, pathophysiologic changes, and psychosocial and cultural characteristics of the clients across the lifespan. Students obtain the practice skills necessary for advanced communication (i.e., clinical interviewing, focused history taking), psychosocial and physical assessment, critical diagnostic reasoning, differential diagnosis, and clinical decision-making through course readings, dialog, discussions, videos, simulations, and practical examinations. This course includes 45 hours of practice experience through digital virtual patient activities simulating a real patient via Shadow Health. Prerequisites: Admission in the ELMSN program or instructor permission.

NURS 240. Advanced Concepts in Nursing Practice. 2 Units.

Building on the integrated knowledge and competencies from Nursing of Adults and Older Adults I and II, students will care for complex and emergent clients in an acute care setting. Emphasis is placed on the delivery of safe, patient-centered, team-based care incorporating health promotion, disease prevention, and patient/family education. Core competencies from previously taken medical-surgical nursing courses are emphasized, with the focus on the care of adults with acute conditions. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 242. Advanced Concepts and Clinical Immersion. 5 Units.

Students will complete 200 clinical hours under the guidance of a faculty mentor and program approved preceptor. Students will coordinate clinical days with the preceptor. The course is designed to provide an in-depth clinical experience for students to assist with their transition to professional practice. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 244. Advanced Professional Role & Advocacy. 2 Units.

The role of the master's prepared nurse in advocacy and leadership related to policy development and innovation in health care delivery is emphasized. This course explores current nursing and health care issues within the context of transformational leadership strategies. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 246. Care Coordination and Transition Management. 2 Units.

This course prepares nursing students to integrate care coordination and transition management into practice throughout the continuum of care. Students are co-enrolled in the precepted immersion course; therefore, students will identify complex care patients (with approval of their preceptor) to meet course objectives. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.

NURS 248. Quality Improvement Project II. 3 Units.

Using the guidelines for the Clinical Improvement Project, each student will complete a scholarly written paper for their Clinical Improvement Project. In addition, students will complete a poster (conference quality) of their project and present findings to the agency. Dissemination of the student's project findings will be presented at a poster presentation, hosted by the program to faculty, students, and invited members of the health science and graduate school professional community. Prerequisites: Admission to the ELMSN program or permission by instructor.