Nursing Informatics

The primary purpose of the MS in Nursing Informatics is to prepare registered nurses for successful careers in a variety of healthcare settings. Using an instructional and outcomes assessment model, the program provides a flexible means for registered nurses, including those from diverse and underserved populations, to obtain a master's degree.
The curriculum includes graduate core and specialty courses designed to prepare registered nurses to function in the role of nurse informaticists in a variety of health care settings. The program is designed to build on previous knowledge, education, and experience and serves as a foundation for doctoral study. The pursuit of lifelong learning, which is essential for practice in the profession, is one of the tenets of Excelsior College.
The faculty believes that nurses prepare at the master's level use specialty knowledge to engage in clinical reasoning and the decision-making process to enhance nursing practice. Graduates of master's programs are able to assess, analyze, plan, implement, and evaluate individual/organizational outcomes. As leaders, graduates of master's programs assume roles that foster team building, create partnerships and promote collaboration within nursing and across disciplines. Master's prepared nurses use knowledge from nursing and other disciplines to influence health policy, foster staff performance and encourage systems thinking.

National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC)

None

A two day retreat on the Albany campus is a component of the capstone.

37 credits

1. Articulates the role of the master's prepared nurse within the philosophical, ethical, and theoretical framework of nursing science.
2. Uses knowledge and analytical skills to appraise the contextual environment of nursing and informatics in order to inform and influence decision making across the health-care system.
3. Applies knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines in analysis and interpretation of data and management of projects.
4. Establishes collaborative partnerships with diverse constituencies to pursue informatics related goals and influence change.
5. Creates an environment that facilitates knowledge and use of the data, information and knowledge continuum.
6. Assumes a leadership role in the health care organization to shape and implement change.
7. Uses persuasive communication strategies with multiple stakeholders to address professional and healthcare system issues and achieve goals.
8. Develops approaches to health-care environment that address the cultural, ethical, legal, social, economic, and political requirements of diverse populations and stakeholders and impact the role of the infomaticist.
9. Incorporates the scope of practice professional standards and specialty knowledge to implement the role of the master's prepared nurse in a variety of health care settings.
10. Develops evidence-based practice using the research process and effectively engages in scholarship.
11. Takes responsibility for lifelong learning, acts as a role model, maintains competence and makes contributions to the profession.
12. Uses multiple strategies to assess and evaluate information system development in various setting across the health care continuum.

Excelsior College’s Graduate Nursing program uses rubrics to assess academic achievement. Each outcome is directly assessed during the final course requirement; the Capstone.  The components of the Capstone including a project, an online seminar, and a leadership retreat presentation are designed to have students apply their knowledge, skills, and behaviors to real-life situations.  Faculty teams review the students’ work using criterion-referenced rubrics.  Students must achieve a minimal grade of B for each component of the Capstone to be successful. The MS in Nursing program has recently changed their assessment methods.  The MS in Nursing program changed their assessment methods in 2009.  Results in the new format are include all data since 2009. The distribution of capstone grades is as follows:  100% A (41), 0% B (0), 0% C or below (0).

not applicable