Nursing, Master of Science Degree

Mission Statement
The graduate program in nursing promotes foundational competencies that are core to advanced nursing practice in an ever-changing and globally reaching health care environment. Both academic, practicum and interpersonal preparation are characterized by increased depth in organizational and systems’ leadership within a culture of integrity and personal accountability in a community that values the dignity and contributions of our members. Standards of ethical behavior and decision-making are essential foundations of our graduate education programs, which guide individuals to distinguish ethical principles and understand the consequences and implications beyond personal and organizational self-interest. By pursuing more effective and innovative methodologies through which students utilize administrative expertise with the foresight to analyze problems, structure and facilitate development, and find and implement solutions, WCU graduates are prepared to make a positive impact on society.

MSN Tracks:

Advanced Generalist
Informatics
Nurse Educator
Nurse Leader

MSN Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Tracks

Family Nurse Practitioner
Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon graduation, MSN students will:

1. Integrate nursing science and related fields, such as physiology, statistics, psychosocial, political, financial, genetics, public health and organization sciences in the continued improvement of nursing across the continuum of health care settings.

2. Provide leadership in a variety of settings that promote high quality, safe patient care that also incorporates ethical decision making and effective inter-professional working relationships.

3. Demonstrate the skills needed to effect quality improvement that incorporates the various models, standards and performance measures necessary to apply quality principles, within any type of organization.

4. Apply evidenced based research in clinical practice by identifying actual or potential practice problems in a setting and resolving them through the role of change agent.

5. Demonstrate proficiency in computer skills both technical and in the application of informatics to enhance, deliver, communicate, integrate and coordinate patient care.

6. Recognize the need for and ability to affect policy changes by using the policy development process and advocacy strategies to influence individual health and health care systems.

7. Communicate and coordinate inter-professionally in a variety of settings to manage and coordinate care.

8. Identify and integrate the various evidenced based practices of health promotion and disease prevention using client centered, culturally and age appropriate concepts in the nursing process of services to individuals, families and broad-based aggregate populations.

9. Demonstrate an advanced level of scientific and nursing-specific knowledge with the ability to integrate that knowledge into nursing practice that influences health care outcomes for individual, families, populations and/or systems.

Admission Requirements

Applicants for the Master of Science in Nursing Program (All tracks) must meet the following admissions requirements:

Have a minimum of a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing or more advanced degree; or Bachelor of Arts degree in a closely related field from an accredited institution recognized by the United States Department of Education with a cumulative grade-point average (CGPA) of 2.7 or higher. Applicants with a baccalaureate degree in a field other than Nursing will be required to have course work or experience in undergraduate research, leadership/management, and public/community health. Applicants that do not have the minimum required coursework may be admitted to the program but must complete the additional course requirements before starting the MSN core courses.
1. Applicants with a baccalaureate degree in a field other than Nursing will be required to have course work or experience in undergraduate research, leadership/management, and public/community health. Applicants that do not have the minimum required coursework may be admitted to the program but must complete the additional course requirements before starting the MSN core courses.
2. Applicants submitting non-U.S. or non-English transcripts will be required to have their coursework evaluated by a transcript evaluation service to determine the equivalency to a U.S. degree/coursework. If the transcript evaluation is unclear as to the equivalency to a U.S. degree/coursework, the Program Dean will review the transcript (translated if necessary) and transcript evaluation to determine if a minimum of 3 academic years of undergraduate coursework has been met for admission.
3. Applicants submitting advanced degrees will be reviewed by the Program Dean to determine if a minimum of 3 academic years of undergraduate coursework has been met for admission.
4. Applicants with an undergraduate degree cumulative grade point average of 2.5 to 2.69 may be admitted on a probationary status. Students enrolled in a probationary status must achieve a grade of “C” or higher in the first 9 credits or be dismissed from the program.
5. Official transcripts must be received prior to the end of the add/drop period of the first term.
Completion of an introductory Statistics course with a grade of "C-" or better, equivalent to MATH 211 (Applied Statistics). Applicants who have not taken an introductory Statistics course may take MATH 211 at WCU as part of their MSN program (must be taken prior to the Research course).
Provide proof of current unobstructed professional licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN) in the United States.

Applicants must have a current and unobstructed license in the United States prior to entering the third trimester of the program; an unobstructed license is required for degree completion and will be verified prior to entering the practicum.
Applicants awaiting their licensure exam may be admitted if all other admissions criteria are met, however, must show proof of licensure prior to entering the third trimester of the program.
Failure to present a valid RN license will result in dismissal from the university until such time license is current and unobstructed.

4. One year of direct patient care nursing experience within the past five years is preferred except for the FNP track which requires one year of full-time experience in direct care prior to entering FNP core courses.

Admissions Requirements (Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Tracks only)

In addition to the admissions requirements above, applicants to the Master of Science in Nursing - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) track must also meet the following admissions requirements:

Recommendation for admission following an interview with the Nursing Dean and admission committee members. This also includes a handwritten essay evaluation. Past academic performance and professional activity will be evaluated, e.g., community, organizational, and volunteer service, and creative professional accomplishments. These qualifications will be evaluated using a rubric in order to determine the applicant’s level of qualification.
Applicants to the FNP track must have a minimum of one (1) year of direct patient care experience within the past three (3) years prior to entering FNP courses.
Submission of two (2) letters of recommendation from most recent employer (supervisor) and from a professor who can address the applicant's clinical expertise and academic preparation for the program.
Applications are expected to be complete and submitted 60 days prior to the first day of instruction. Applications received after the application deadline will be considered for admission on a space available basis.

West Coast University offers conditional admission to the FNP track to applicants who are academically qualified but have not met all of the conditions for admission. Applicants unable to demonstrate sufficient professional experience may be admitted with conditions to the program by the Graduate Admissions Interview Committee. Students accepted with conditions will remain on this status until successfully completing all requirements for full admission. A follow-up interview will be scheduled during the term preceding the FNP core courses to determine if the conditions have been met. If the specified conditions are not met, the student may be transferred to the MSN Advanced Generalist track (or equivalent) and all credits earned will be applied towards the completion of that track.

MSN Progression Requirements (All MSN Tracks)

A cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.0 is required for all 500 and 600 level courses for graduation. Students are also required to meet all requirements under the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy.

MSN-APRN Progression Requirements

In the APRN tracks/certificates, students must receive a grade of "B-" or better in all APRN-specific courses taken in order to progress. Students will be allowed one (1) course failure in the APRN programs with opportunity to repeat it. If unsuccessful, the student may move to another program track, if available or will be dismissed.
An APRN student may be dismissed for the following reasons: Failure to maintain satisfactory academic progress according to the standards of the program; conduct reasons; or failure to meet program-specific grade requirements. Dismissed students may not reapply to the APRN track at a later date.
As an APRN track pre-requisite, the following courses (or their equivalents) must have been completed within the last five (5) years with a grade of "B-" or better:
1. NURS 530A & NURS 530B Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology
2. NURS 676A & NURS 676B Advanced Pharmacology
3. NURS 680A & NURS 680B Advanced Health/Physical Assessment

Paired Courses - If a student in the APRN tracks passes only one of the two required paired courses in a term, i.e., receives a B- in theory and a C in clinical, or vice-versa, then the student must repeat the "failed" course (failure being defined as less than a B-). The student who fails a sequenced theory and/or clinical course may not continue on to the next course in the sequence. (Example: a student must pass NURS 663 and NURS 663L in order to proceed to NURS 664 and NURS 664L).

Clinical Hours - Students must complete all required clinical hours in each of the clinical courses, or they will not progress into the next course; they will have a maximum of 10 days at the end of that term to complete the hours, consistent with the University incomplete policy. No further extension will be granted.

Students must demonstrate clinical competence prior to starting any of the APRN Tracks Clinical Practicum courses. Demonstration includes a focused history taking, physical examination and
documentation of findings (OSCE). Clinical competence will be assessed by the faculty at a scheduled time prior to the first APRN track course.

Students who do not demonstrate clinical competence cannot be placed in a clinical practicum course. Unsuccessful students will be given the opportunity to repeat Advanced Health Assessment and demonstrate clinical competence prior to entering the APRN track courses. After an unsuccessful repeat attempt, they will have the choice of transferring into the Generalist Track if there is space available.

APRN theory or clinical practicum courses may be repeated only one time. Students who do not pass these courses with a minimum of B- (80%) the second time will be withdrawn from the APRN track. A student who must repeat a class or clinical practicum will do so when the course is available and only if there is space available in the class. An APRN student who is required to repeat a clinical practicum cannot go back to the same clinical site or work with the same preceptor he/she had before.

Academic Warning - Students must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00. If a student’s cGPA falls below 3.00 then the student will be placed on academic warning. The student can remain on warning for one semester only, at which time they must bring their cGPA up to a minimum of 3.00 or they will be dismissed. In the MSN program, they may be placed on academic warning only once. In the APRN tracks, students cannot be on academic warning at the time of entry into the APRN Tracks. They have the option to complete the Generalist track (6 units) and then apply to return as a Post-Master’s Certificate in the APRN on a space-available basis.

MSN Program - Advanced Practice Registered Nurse tracks: Recency Requirements for Advanced Practice core courses and competency exam.

Due to the importance of the content of the three Advanced Practice core courses in the MSN program, (NUR 530) Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology, (NUR 570) Advanced Pharmacology and (NURS 580) Advanced Health Physical Assessment, in preparation for the Family Nurse Practitioner track, they must have been taken within five (5) years prior to starting the actual APRN courses. This would apply to the MSN students as well as the post-master's Certificate students. If more than five years has elapsed since they have taken these courses, they will need to repeat them in the MSN program.

Prerequisite Progression Requirements

As a prerequisite, students in the Masters of Science Nursing (MSN) and APRN Tracks are required the following grades in order to progress in the program.

Course Number	Course Name	MSN - non-APRN Tracks Grade Requirement	MSN - APRN Tracks Grade Requirement
NURS 500	Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice	C-	C-
NURS 510	Policy, Organization, & Financing of Healthcare	C-	C-
NURS 521	Ethics in Healthcare	C-	C-
NURS 530A	Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology	C-	B-
NURS 530B	Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology	C-	B-
NURS 540	Research Utilization	C-	C-
NURS 561	Health Promotion & Disease Prevention	C-	C-
NURS 570	Advanced Pharmacology	C-	B-
NURS 580	Advanced Health and Physical Assessment	C-	B-
NURS 592	Advanced Clinical Practice: Theory	C-	N/A
NURS 593L	Advanced Clinical Practice: Practicum	C-	N/A
NURS 600	Principles of Teaching and Learning	C-	C-
NURS 660	Roles in Advanced Practice Nursing	N/A	B-
NURS 662	Primary Care Pediatric Patient: Theory	N/A	B-
NURS 662L

Program Information and Disclosures

RN Licensure Disclosure

RNs who are not licensed in California or Texas, will be required to apply for California or Texas RN license starting their clinical practicum courses. RNs wishing to complete their clinical practicum in their state of residence must identify a clinical site in their state of residence with which the university can execute a clinical affiliation agreement. The RN license must be active and unobstructed.