Clinical Nurse Leader

Master of Nursing (MN) Graduate Degree

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.
NRSG 601Advanced Health Assessment3
NRSG 602Adv Physio/Pathophysiology4
NRSG 603Advanced Pharmacology I2
NRSG 604Evidence Based Practice I3
NRSG 606Statistical Applications ([optional])3
NRSG 608Design H C Delivery Systems3
NRSG 609Advanced Nursing Leadership & Roles3
NRSG 611Program Planning & Evaluation, Outcomes, & Quality Improvement3
NRSG 612Ethics, Law, and Policy for Advocacy in Healthcare3
NRSG 613Finance & Budget H C Systems2
NRSG 673Writing for Scholarly Projects2
NRSG 508Clinical Leadership Practicum7
NRSG 509Clinical Nurse Leader Lab I2
NRSG 575Professional Paper and Project2
NRSG 575Professional Paper and Project2

MN Degree (CNL): 42 credits required.


Professional Project

Each student completes and defends a professional project developed in collaboration with a faculty advisor and committee over a two-semester course model. Examples of exciting and innovative student projects include: development of mental health outreach programs to the rural elderly; examination of alternative health practices for healing; establishment of pediatric cancer support groups for the rural client; and development of a school based clinic.