Graduate School

LOEWENBERG SCHOOL OF NURSING
Room 102, Newport Hall
(901) 678-2003

MARJORIE F. LUTTRELL, PhD
Dean

ROBERT KOCH, DNSc
Associate Dean, Director of Graduate Studies

http://nursing.memphis.edu/

I. The Loewenberg School of Nursing offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Science in Nursing with concentrations in (1) Nursing Administration, (2) Nursing Education, and (3) Advanced Practice Nursing (Family Nurse Practitioner), and 4) Nursing Informatics. A post-master's certificate is also ofered in the aread of advanced practice nursing (Family Nurse Practitioner).

Program objectives are: (1) ability to use theory and research from nursing and other disciplines to improve health care and the systems in which it is provided; (2) advance the profession and health care through the use of core nursing competencies* in advanced professional practice as nurse practitioners, nurse educators, or nurse executives; (3) develop professional practice sites that are ethically grounded, committed to excellence, evidence-based, and valued by the consumer; (4) influence health policy to ensure the health and well-being of individuals, aggregates, and communities.

*Core Nursing Competencies include: a) critical thinking, b) communication, c) assessment, d) technical skills, e) teaching, f) caring, g) management, h) leadership, and i) knowledge integration skills.

Students may not enroll for courses as graduate non-degree except by permission of the instructor and with approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Every graduate student is expected to comply with the general requirements of the Graduate School (see Admissions Regulations, Academic Regulations, and Minimum Degree Requirements) and the program requirements of the degree being pursued.

II. MSN Degree Program

A. Admission Requirements

1. Admission Requirements for all MSN Applicants:
1. Admission to the University of Memphis Graduate School
2. Admission to the Loewenberg School of Nursing graduate nursing program.
3. A minimum score of 250 computer based or 100 internet based score on the TOEFL (students for whom English is a second language)
4. An undergraduate minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.8 on a 4.0 scale.
5. Letters of recommendation from three persons qualified to judge the applicant's ability to practice in an advanced role.
6. Interview with LSON graduate faculty.
2. Students admitted to graduate coursework must have and maintain while in the program:
1. An unrestricted license to practice as a registered nurse in Tennessee;
2. Current CPR certification;
3. Evidence of Heptavax, MMR, polio, and tetanus vaccination;
4. Rubella and varicella titers;
5. Freedom from tuberculosis as evidenced by a negative PPD or health provider examination;
6. Evidence of current professional malpractice insurance in the amount of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $3,000,000 in the aggregate.
3. Standardized Admission Test
The standardized admission test is successful completion of the NCLEX licensing examination.
4. Admission Requirements for BSN Applicants
1. Completion of BSN
2. An unrestricted registered nursing license to practice in Tennessee
5. Admission Requirements for RN/MSN Applicants with a BA/BS non-nursing major
1. An unrestricted registered nursing license to practice in Tennessee
2. Completion of a 13-unit RN/MSN nursing bridge sequence: NURS 3107, NURS 4120/6120, NURS 4127/6127, NURS 4110/6110; NURS 4327/6327. RN/MSN graduates will not be awarded the BSN degree.
6. Admission Requirements for Generic MSN (non-registered nurse) applicants to MSN courses
1. Completion of (12 hour) nursing support sequence: BIOL 2010/2011, BIOL 2020/2021, MMCS 1230/1231 with a grade of 3.0 or higher.
2. Completion of undergraduate foundation, provider of care, coordinator of care courses with a cumulative grade point average of 2.8 or higher. The BSN degree will be awarded when these undergraduate courses and the TBR minimum general education degree requirements are completed.
3. Unrestricted license to practice as a registered nurse in Tennessee.

B. Program Requirements

1. Students enrolled in the MSN program must complete 36-46 semester hours (based on concentration area) with the minimum overall grade point average of 3.0. Six hours (6) are in the core curriculum with the remaining required hours in a specialty concentration.
1. Core Curriculum:
   NURS 7001 Healthcare Policy
   NURS 7990 Scholarly Synthesis
2. Nursing Adminstration:
   NURS 7000 Theoretical Foundations for Advanced Practice
   NURS 7002 Advanced Nursing Research
   NURS 7003 Advanced Role Development
   NURS 7301 Nursing Administration I
   NURS 7302 Nursing Administration II
   NURS 7305 Quality Management
   NURS 7309 Administrative Residency
   
   Nursing Administration concentration students must select one of the following administrative course combinations:
   ACCT 7000 Fundamentals of Accounting and ACCT 7010 Accounting Decision Making
   ACCT 7000 Fundamentals of Accounting and NURS 7332 Resource Allocation in Nursing
   NURS 7303 Healthcare Finance and NURS 75304 Human Resource Management


3. Nursing Education:
   NURS 7000 Theoretical Foundations for Advanced Practice
   NURS 7002 Advanced Nursing Research
   NURS 7003 Advanced Role Development
   NURS 7203 Curriculum Design in Nursing
   NURS 7209 Education Residency
   
   Nursing Education concentration students must select one of the following education course combinations:
   NURS 7201 Theories of Nursing Education and NURS 7202 Educational Strategies for Nursing Education
   NURS 7244 Evaluation Methods in Nursing Education and 7242 Educational Strategies for Nursing Education
   
   Students in this concentration also must complete one of the following clinical course combinations:
   NURS 7501 Advanced Adult Health Nursing I and 7503 Advanced Adult Health Nursing II
   NURS 7511 Psychiatric Nursing Care I and 7513 Psychiatric Nursing Care II
   NURS 7522 Critical Care I and 7523 Critical Care II
   NURS 7541 Women's Health and Perinatal Nursing I and 7543 Women's Health and Perinatal Nursing II
   NURS 7631 Pediatric Nursing I and NURS 7633 Pediatric Nursing II


4. Advanced Practice (Family Nurse Practitioner):
   
   NURS 7000 Theoretical Foundations for Advanced Practice
   NURS 7002 Advanced Nursing Research
   NURS 7003 Advanced Role Development
   NURS 7101/02 Advanced Health Assessment/Advanced Health Assessment Clinic
   NURS 7103 Advanced Pathophysiology
   NURS7104 Advanced Pharmacology
   NURS 7601/02 Family Nurse Practitioner I/ Family Nurse Practitioner I Clinic
   NURS 7603/04 Family Nurse Practitioner II/ Family Nurse Practitioner II Clinic
   NURS 7605/06 Family Nurse Practitioner III/ Family Nurse Practitioner III Clinic
   NURS 7059 Advanced Practice Residency


5. Nursing Informatics:
   NURS 7000 Theoretical Foundations for Advanced Practice
   NURS 7002 Advanced Nursing Research
   NURS 7003 Advanced Role Development
   NURS 7401 Informatics and Information Management
   NURS7402 Health Care Information Systems
   NURS7403 Analysis/Design of Health Care Information Systems
   NURS7404 Evaluation of Health Care Information Systems
   NURS7405 Health Care Data Analysis Techniques
   NURS7407 Informatics Applicatons Practicum I
   NURS7409 Informatics Applicatons Practicum I


2. Before being recommended for graduation, every candidate for the master's degree in nursing is required to either pass a final comprehensive examination or complete the oral defense of a thesis. The written examination will place emphasis on the student's area of concentration and will be administered by selected nursing faculty each semester. The candidate must be registered in the semester the comprehensive exam is taken. When the student elects to complete a thesis, the candidate must enroll for thesis credit each semester until the thesis is completed. Students must register for thesis credit in the semester in which they defend.
3. Family Nurse Practitioner students must complete a minimum of 500 clock hours to meet the academic and practicum requirement for national certification. All requirements for the MSN degree must be completed in 5 calendar years.

C. Retention Requirements

1. Students in the Loewenberg School of Nursing graduate program must comply with all retention standards of the University of Memphis Graduate School.
2. Graduate students must maintain a 3.0 GPA ("B"). Grades of "D" and "F" will not apply toward any graduate degree, but will be computed in the GPA. No more than 7 hours of "C-", "C," or "C+" will be applied towards meeting degree requirements.
3. Academic disqualification from the graduate nursing major will occur when the student:
   1. fails to maintain a 3.0 GPA in graduate school.
   2. fails to earn a grade of "B" (3.0) or better when repeating a course.
   3. willfully misrepresents patient data or clinical practice.
   4. willfully places any patient in physical or emotional jeopardy.
   5. is placed on probation by the Tennessee Board of Nursing.
   6. fails to disclose a felony conviction.
   7. fails to disclose disciplinary action or diversion by the Tennessee Board of Nursing.
   8. fails to complete all degree requirements within five years of entering graduate nursing coursework.

III. Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Post-Master's Certificate

The Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Certificate program provides a formal program of study for master's-prepared nurses interested in taking the national certification exam to practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner. In order to be eligible to take the exam students must "successfully complete graduate didactic and clinical requirements of a master's nurse practitioner program through a formal graduate-level certificate or Master's level NP program in the desired area of practice." The FNP Certificate program offers a formal program of study to meet this need for students who already have the Master of Science in Nursing degree without requiring them to complete a second master's degree.

A. Prerequisites

The following prerequisite courses must be completed at the master's level with a grade of "B" or better prior to admission.
Advanced Health Assessment, 3 credit hours
Advanced Health Assessment, Clinical or Lab
Advanced Pathophysiology, 3 credit hours
Advanced Pharmacology, 3 credit hours

B. Program Requirements (21 credit hours total)

NURS 7601/02 Family Nurse Practitioner I/Clinic (3/2 credit hours)
NURS 7603/04 Family Nurse Practitioner II/Clinic (3/4 credit hours)
NURS 7605/06 Family Nurse Practitioner III/Clinic (3/2 credit hours)
NURS 7059 Advanced Practice Residency (4 credit hours)

C. Retention Requirements

Retention Requirements are the same as for the MSN.

6110. Nursing Research. (3). Overview of nursing research: components of research, critiques of existing studies, emphasis on interpretation and applications of research findings. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN program.

6120. Contemporary Issues and Trends in Nursing and Health Care. (3). Factors that influence nursing and health care; promotes integration and synthesis of knowledge from previous nursing and general education courses to explore societal and political components that affect delivery of health care. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN program.

6127. Community Health Nursing. (3). Overview of community-based health-care delivery system at local, state, and national levels; theories and principles of nursing care of communities and aggregates in public health and home health-care settings; expands nursing role to coordinator of care. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN program.

6327. Nursing Leadership and Management for RNs. (3). Theories of leadership, management, and change basic to functioning within existing systems; applications of conceptual models of nursing to contemporary practice. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN program.

7000. Theoretical Foundations for Advanced Nursing Practice. (3). Exploration of theory development in nursing; analysis of selected nursing and related theories; relevance of theory to practice, education, research, and administration; includes process of theory development. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7001. Health Care Policy. (3). Primary focus on analysis of health-care systems; examines public and private health-care delivery systems; explores future challenges and processes to improve systems. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN program or permission of instructor.

7002. Advanced Nursing Research (3). (7016). Systematic examination and application of the research process; critically examines concept of evidenced-based practice and its application to nursing. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN program or permission of instructor.

7003. Advanced Role Development (3). (7050). Provides an in-depth understanding of the legal, historical, political, social, and ethical aspects of advanced nursing; examines traditional and emerging roles for advanced nursing. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN program or permission of instructor

7059. Advanced Practice Residency. (4). Supervised full-time advanced clinical practice in a primary care setting with immersion into role of Family Nurse Practitioner; allows for role synthesis and application of concepts in the practice setting. PREREQUISITES; NURS, 7030, 7039, ECON 7710; PRE- OR COREQUISITE: NURS 7050.

7101. Advanced Health Assessment. (3). Focuses on development of diagnostic reasoning skills, emphasizing application of these skills in the presence of abnormal findings uncovered during physical examination of individuals across the lifespan. PREREQUISITE: Undergraduate course in health assessment; admission to MSN Advanced Practice program COREQUISITE: NURS 7102.

7102 Advanced Health Assessment Clinical (1) This clinical course emphasizes application of techniques to perform targeted and comprehensive advanced health assessment of the adult client; develops synthesis, critical analysis, interpretation of physical assessment data, diagnostic reasoning, and clinical judgment. COREQUISITE NURS 7101

7103. Pathophysiology for Advanced Practice. (3). (7013). Exploration of theoretical foundations of phenomena that alter health status across the life span; provides foundation for practitioner courses related to diagnosis and treatment of disease processes. PREREQUISITE: Undergraduate course in pathophysiology. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN program or permission of instructor.

7104. Pharmacology for Advanced Practice. (3). Focus on pharmacological actions of drugs commonly prescribed in primary care settings; emphasizes pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles of drugs, side effects, therapeutic dosages, and drug interactions; integrates legal, ethical, and economic factors of prescriptive authority. PREREQUISITE: Undergraduate pharmacology course; admission to MSN Advanced Practice. PREREQUISITE NURS 7103 or permission of instructor.

7201. Theories of Nursing Education. (3). Explores major research-based theories of adult and nursing education and applies them to a variety of settings and/or levels of education. 

7202. Teaching Strategies and Evaluation Methods. (3). Provides knowledge necessary for competent classroom and clinical teaching; explores methods of teaching at university, community college, and health-care settings in classroom, seminar, and electronic formats; includes evaluation methods for classroom and clinical instruction.

7203. Curriculum Design in Nursing. (3). (7240). Principles of developing and organizing curriculum designs for multiple health-care settings and nursing education systems; includes analysis and comparison of associate, baccalaureate, graduate, and service-based nursing curricula. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN Nursing Education or permission of instructor.

7207. Clinical Focus Practicum. (2). Use of theory, clinical concepts, and nursing research in delivery of care to specific patient populations from a social, cultural, psychological, physical, spiritual, and economic perspective for the advanced practice nurse.

7209. Nursing Education Practicum (4). Integrates theory in a reality context; provides opportunities to participate in all phases of teaching and to experiment with different teaching methods.

7242. Educational Strategies for Nursing Education. (3). Instructional strategies relevant to teaching across selected nursing and health-care settings; analysis of instruction and teaching practices including classroom, seminar, and electronic formats. PREREQUISITE: Admission to MSN Nursing Education.

7244. Evaluation Methods in Nursing Education. (3). Analysis of testing, benchmarking, and evaluation methods in the clinical practice of nursing across classroom, seminar, and electronic formats; includes evaluation methods to ensure competency in the clinical area. PREREQUISITES NURS 7240, 7242.

7301. Nursing Administration I. (3). (7330). Comprehensive analysis of concepts required for effective performance of the nurse executive's role in organizations with varied environments; management as a sub-function of the total organization; systems interacting with objectives, planning, and control; organizational designs and interpersonal relationships. PREREQUISITES: Admission to MSN Administration program or permission of instructor.

7302. Nursing Administration II. (3). (7331). Synthesis of concepts used for effective performance of nurse executive's role; analyzes use of human and financial resources and organizational development with application to nursing executive positions; includes theories and concepts related to intra- and entrepreneurial principles and skills for advanced nursing role; examines role of nurse executive as consultant to health-care organizations. PREREQUISITE: NURS 7301.

7303. Health Care Finance. (3). Introduction to accounting and financial management, focusing on health-care industry; includes understanding financial reports, cost behavior and profit analysis, cost allocation, pricing and servicing decisions, managerial accounting, planning and budgeting, time value analysis, and financial risk.

7304. Human Resources Management. (3). Personnel and human resource issues, including labor management in nursing and health care settings.

7305. Quality Management. (3). (7334). Analysis of quality management system models in nursing and health care, including problem and documentation, development of strategies for improvement, intervention and evaluation; focus on quality improvement process in relation to organizational outcomes. PREREQUISITE: NURS 7301 or permission of instructor.

7309. Nursing Administration Practicum. (4). Integrates theory into reality context of the administrator's role; provides opportunities to participate in all phases of the executive role in different administrative settings.

7332. Resource Allocation in Nursing and Health Care. (3). Assesses fiscal environment of health-care organizations: critiques financial management processes; analyzes costing and budgeting; compares financial statement analysis, cost analysis, resource planning, and resource control; evaluates management of health-care organizations' financial resources. PREREQUISITES: All core courses; NURS 7331, 7334; ACCT 7000, 7110.

7401. Informatics and Information Management. (2). Overview of nursing informatics and theoretical foundation for information management within health-care setting; explores impact of automated data management through advances in information technology, health-care information systems, and tele-health.

7402. Health Care Information Systems. (3). Introduces concepts upon which health-care information systems are developed, implemented, and maintained; addresses operating systems, networking concepts, security issues, workstation design, and evaluation related to the health-care environment.

7403. Analysis and Design of Health-Care Information Systems. (3). Provides knowledge and skills to analyze and design health-care information systems; discusses informatic models, conceptual frameworks, and practice activities.

7404. Evaluation of Health-Care Information Systems. (3). Provides advanced knowledge and skills for implementing and evaluating health-care information systems in practice; emphasizes emerging technologies.

7405. Health-Care Data Analysis Techniques. (2). Presents concepts related to complex data analysis in health-care environment; covers principles of data collection, organization, and statistical analysis and interpretation; provides opportunity to review complex applications for data mining and reporting within the health-care environment.

7407. Informatics Applications I. (2). Practicum builds upon concepts and technology introduced in related informatics course work to provide experiences in informatics applications in health-care settings.

7409. Informatics Applications II. (2). Provides additional experiences in informatics applications in health-care settings; students will explore a variety of informatics applications and identify specific informatics applications based on their practice interests.

7501. Advanced Adult Health Nursing I. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the role of a professional nurse educator in adult health settings.

7503. Advanced Adult Health Nursing II. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the leadership role of the professional nurse educator in the adult healthcare setting.

7511. Psychiatric Nursing Care I. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the role of a professional nurse educator in psychiatric and mental health settings.

7513. Psychiatric Nursing Care II. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the leadership role of the professional nurse educator in psychiatric and mental health settings.

7521. Advanced Concepts in Critical Care. (3). Focuses on advanced concepts related to multi-organ/system function and dysfunction; addresses physiology, assessment, pathophysiology, system failure, and clinical management of endocrine and defense systems; uses detailed overviews of multi-system dysfunction in shock, trauma, and burns to integrate core concepts with more complex pathophysiology and advanced treatment modalities.

7522. Critical Care I. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the role of a professional nurse educator in critical care settings.

7523. Core Concepts in Critical Care II. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the leadership role of the professional nurse educator in critical care settings.

7541. Maternal Child Nursing I. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the role of a professional nurse educator in maternal-child settings.

7543. Maternal Child Nursing II. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the leadership role of the professional nurse educator in maternal-child settings.

7601. Family Nurse Practitioner I. (3). (7020). Focuses on advanced practice nursing and health-care management of women in diverse populations; includes biopsychosocial interactions affecting women throughout the lifespan. PREREQUISITE: Admission to Family Nurse Practitioner program; NURS 7101, 7102, 7103; COREQUISITE: NURS 7602.

7602. Family Nurse Practitioner I Clinical. (2). (7029). Focuses on delivery of advanced nursing care to women; employs various clinical settings with diverse populations for clinical practice. COREQUISITE: NURS 7601.

7603. Family Nurse Practitioner II. (3). (7030). Focuses on advanced practice nursing and health-care management of adults and older adults in diverse populations; includes developmental, physiological, pathological, and psychosocial changes relative to health maintenance, acute and chronic illnesses, and life transitions. PREREQUISITE: Admission to Family Nurse Practitioner program; NURS 7101, 7102, 7103; PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE: NURS 7104.

7604. Family Nurse Practitioner II Clinical. (4). Provides opportunities to deliver advanced nursing care to adults and older adults; student completes health assessments of adults and older adults and develops comprehensive plans of care. COREQUISITE: NURS 7603.

7605. Family Nurse Practitioner III. (3). (7039). Focuses on advanced practice nursing and health-care management of children and adolescents; includes developmental, physiological, pathological, and psychosocial changes relative to health maintenance, acute and chronic illnesses, and developmental transitions within the family context. PREREQUISITE: Admission to Family Nurse Practitioner program; NURS 7101, 7102, 7103; PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE: NURS 7104.

7606. Family Nurse Practitioner III Clinical. (2). Provides opportunities to deliver advanced nursing care to children and adolescents in families and communities; employs various primary care settings for clinical practice in collaboration with nursing faculty and clinical preceptors. COREQUISITE: NURS 7605.

7631. Pediatric Nursing I. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the role of a professional nurse educator in pediatric settings.

7633. Pediatric Nursing II. (3). Focuses on application of educational theory and principles to develop the leadership role of the professional nurse educator in pediatric settings.

7810-7820. Special Topics in Nursing. (3). Topics are varied and announced in online course listings.

7901. Communication and Relationship Building for the Nurse Executive. (3). Imparts skills to effectively communicate, manage relationships, influence bahaviors, support diversity, implement shared decision making, support community involvement, manage medical-staff relations, and support academic relations. COREQUISITE: NURS 7902.

7902. Developing Organizational Leadership. (3). Creates nurse executive skills including foundational thinking skills, personal journey disciplines, systems thinking, succession planning, and change management. COREQUISITE: NURS 7901.

7903. Accountability, Advocacy, and Ethics. (3). Teaches skills to promote accountability, develop career planning paths, integrate high ethics into organizational culture, mentor others in using evidence-based management practices, advocate patient care as organization core, ensure nursing involvement in organizational decisions, and promote participation in professional organization(s). PREREQUISITES: NURS 7901, 7902.

7904. Financial and Human Resources for Patient Care. (3). Imparts skills required to articulate business models for health-care organizations, utilize accounting principles, analyze financial statements, manage financial resources by developing business plans, establish accurate charging mechanisms, and educate others on financial implications of patient care decisions. PREREQUISITES: NURS 7001, 7901, 7902, 7903; ACCT 7000, 7110; COREQUISITE: NURS 7905.

7905. Improving Patient Care Delivery. (3). Creates skills to interpret clinical practice knowledge; analyze delivery models/work designs; explain payer mix, CMI, and benchmark data; and effectively represent nursing to the organization's governing body. PREREQUISITES: NURS 7001, 7901, 7902, 7903; ACCT 7000, 7110; COREQUISITE: NURS 7904.

7907. Evidence-Based Leadership Practices. (3). Creates skills to implement stratgeic management; analyze marketing opportunities; utilize hospital databases, decision support, and expert system programs to plan operational processes and systems; evaluate utility of information systems; involve nursing in planning, designing, choosing, and implementing information systems; and analyze benchmarking, financial, and occupational data. PREREQUISITES: NURS 7001, 7901, 7902, 7903, 7904 7905; ACCT 7000, 7110.

7909. Nurse Executive Practicum. (4). Student collaborates with Nurse Executive mentor to enhance competency in communication/relationship building, knowledge of health-care environment, leadership, professionalism, and business skills. PREREQUISITES: NURS 7001, 7901, 7902, 7903, 7904 7905 7907; HADM 7103; ACCT 7000, 7110.

7990. Scholarly Synthesis. (3). Students will complete a synthesizing activity as a culminating experience. Student may choose one of the following scholarly activities: 1) design a program, 2) write a grant proposal, 3) complete a scholarly project, 4) submit a manuscript for publication, or 5) present at a national or regional research conference.

†7996. Thesis. (3). Directed study in the completion of the thesis. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

†Grades of S, U, or IP will be given.