Clinical Nurse Leader

Focus

The focus of the MN degree (Clinical Nurse Leader, CNL) is to prepare graduates with advanced leadership skills to be applied in the healthcare delivery system across a wide range of settings. Functional roles of the CNL include client advocacy, team manager, information manager, outcomes manager, systems analyst/risk anticipator, educator, and active professional. Graduates will be eligible for national CNL certification. Students apply to the Graduate School for acceptance into the MN programs on a rolling basis. 

Program Learning Outcomes

This program reflects the 2021 AACN Master's Essentials. Students completing the graduate nursing program will:

1. Evaluate, integrate, translate, and apply evidence from nursing science and other disciplines in the delivery of care.
2. Create, communicate, and evaluate person-centered care that includes holistic, individualized, just, culturally aware, respectful, compassionate, coordinated, evidence-based and developmentally appropriate.
3. Analyze current population health gaps and create and evaluate cost-effective, evidence-based interventions to meet the needs of the target population.
4. Advance the scholarship of nursing through the integration of best evidence and ethical conduct of scholarly activities. 
5. Employ improvement science to ensure system effectiveness for safe, person-centered care within a physically, psychologically, secure, and just environment. 
6. Collaborate across professions and with other stakeholders to  optimized care, enhance the healthcare experience, and strengthen outcomes.
7. Coordinate the resources of the complex healthcare system to provide safe, quality, and equitable care to diverse populations. 
8. Use information and communication technology to anticipate, manage and improve healthcare in accordance with best practice and professional and regulatory standards. 
9. Model a sustainable professional identity of accountability, ethical comportment, and collaborative disposition.
10. Participate in activities and self-reflection that foster personal health, resilience, and well-being; students will contribute to life-long learning; and students will support the acquisition of nursing expertise and the assertion of leadership.

MN Degree (CNL): 42 credits required.