Master of Science in Nursing

Master of Science in Nursing

General Information

The University
The Department of Nursing
Accreditation
Mission Statement
Purpose

Master of Science in Nursing Program in Family Health

Description of the Program
Program Objectives
Admission Requirements
Application Deadlines
Time Limit to Complete Degree
Planning to Meet the Degree Requirements
Master of Science in Nursing Curriculum

General Graduate Policy
Academic Advising
Typical Graduate Academic Load
Transfer and Waiver of Credit
Incomplete Work
Validation of Previous Work
Academic Dismissal and Appeal Process
General Graduate Degree Requirements
Thesis or Research Problem

Financial Aid
Nursing Department Graduate Faculty Members

The University

Pittsburg State University is one of the six institutions of higher education directed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The University is a major academic institution serving approximately 6700 students and citizens of southeast Kansas.

Pittsburg State University was originally organized as the Auxiliary Manual Training School in 1903. It became a four year college in 1913 and was renamed in 1923 as the Kansas State Teacher's College. The Kansas Legislature changed the name of the college to Pittsburg State University in 1977. The University has continued to flourish and now offers numerous baccalaureate and graduate degrees.

The baccalaureate program in nursing was initiated in 1970. Approximately 400 students are currently enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate nursing major. All nursing students are advised by the departmental faculty. The Master of Science in Nursing degree was established in the fall of 1993 and prepares family nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists. The focus for the graduate program is Family Health. The Department of Nursing is one of fourteen departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Pittsburg State University is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The Master of Science in Nursing program was accredited by the *Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education in 2005 for five years and is approved by the Kansas State Board of Nursing.

*Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
One Dupont Circle, NW
Suite 530
Washington, DC 20036-1120
Phone: 202-887-6791
E-mail: aacn.nche.edu

*Kansas State Board of Nursing
Landon State Office Building
900 SW Jackson Rm. 1051
Topeka, KS 66612
Phone: 785-269-4929

Pittsburg State University is committed to a policy of educational equity. Accordingly, the University admits students, grants financial aid and scholarships, conducts all educational programs, activities, and employment practices without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, or disability.

The mission of the nursing curricula is to prepare graduates to demonstrate excellence in practice, to meet regulatory requirements for practice, to assume leadership roles and to recognize learning as a lifelong process.

The baccalaureate and graduate programs of the Department of Nursing reflect the university's mission of teaching, scholarship and service, with teaching as the primary focus.

Members of the department engage in a wide range of scholarly, professional, practice and community service activities to meet local, regional and national needs for nursing and healthcare.

Recognizing the unique characteristics and needs of our diverse rural setting, the programs of the Department of Nursing prepare graduates to provide nursing care to individuals, families, and populations in a variety of settings.

The baccalaureate nursing curricula build upon a foundation of the arts, sciences and humanities. The Master's curriculum builds upon the competencies of baccalaureate graduates and focuses on advanced nursing roles

The vision of the Department of Nursing is to assume a leadership role, in collaboration with the area health care and educational institutions, in providing baccalaureate nursing education to pre-licensure students and degree completion registered nurses, as well as advance practice education to graduate students. To achieve the vision of a leadership role, the faculty members develop their expertise as educators and role models through life long learning, practice, service, and scholarship.

Description of the Program

The philosophy for the graduate program in Family Health Nursing builds upon the baccalaureate philosophical statement with an emphasis on the family. The family is the focus of nursing, and through assessment and intervention with the family unit, both individual and societal health is promoted. Family nursing is particularly concerned with the stages, cultural practices, and transitions that can impact the health status of the family. Advanced practice nursing education at PSU is responsive to the health care needs in rural southeast Kansas.

The master's program prepares its graduates for advanced practice in the areas of family health and gerontology (including functional areas of education or administration) and family nurse practitioner. Graduates are eligible for national certification examinations and to apply to the Kansas State Board of Nursing for Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) status upon completion of their degree. They will be designated as either a Family Clinical Nurse Specialist or as a Family Nurse Practitioner depending upon their choice of track.

The objectives of the program describe essential characteristics for master's prepared nurses. The program prepares professional practitioners in nursing who can:

1. Integrate the nursing process, supported by a variety of theories, into advanced practice.
2. Utilize advanced nursing standards and content from the sciences, humanities, and nursing to promote health, prevent disease and provide quality care to persons/families/communities with emphasis in rural settings.
3. Contribute to the advancement of the nursing profession through the knowledge of historical, political, social, economic, legal, cultural and ethical aspects of health care.
4. Implement effective teaching-learning strategies designed to promote wellness of persons/families/communities.
5. Demonstrate competence in advanced practice roles in meeting health needs of all populations, with emphasis in rural settings.
6. Evaluate individual advanced practice nurse responsibility and accountability as it contributes to the improvement of the delivery of health care and the establishment of health policy.
7. Synthesize advanced practice nurse leadership and management principles in order to coordinate person/family care in all populations with emphasis in rural settings.
8. Implement activities for planned change to facilitate adaptation of persons/families/communities.
9. Enhance advanced practice nursing through management of research and information systems.
10. Evaluate long-term and short-term personal and professional goals for advanced practice.

Admission to graduate study in the nursing department requires that students submit the following:

• Graduate School Application with $30.00 application fee (access this form online at www.pittstate.edu/cgs).

• Department of Nursing Application with $50.00 application fee.

• GRE scores: If you have an undergraduate overall GPA of under 3.0 you are required to take the GRE. Your Verbal and Quantitative scores added together must total 800 to be admitted to the program. If your undergraduate overall GPA is 3.0 or greater you are not required to take the GRE.

• 3 Letters of recommendation (at least two references from professional employment and/or academia. References from friends, relatives, ministers and personal physicians are not accepted)

• Evidence of graduation from a nationally accredited baccalaureate nursing program
  
• Documentation of current immunization status.
  
• Documentation of current nursing practice - this can be a letter from your employer.
  
• Evidence of completion of prerequisite courses (undergraduate research course, physical assessment content, and a graduate level course in statistics)
  
• Confirmation of an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 (based on a 4.0 scale) Conditional admission may be granted to applicants with an undergraduate GPA of 2.7 or higher. (See above GRE scores).
  
• A student whose native language is NOT English is required to submit proof that he or she has taken and passed (score of 50) the Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit and the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). A minimum TOEFL score of 550, or 213 on the computer based TOEFL, is required. Minimum scores for the TOEFL IBT are as follows: Writing-20;Speaking-20; Reading-19; Listening-20, for a total of 79. Each area must meet the minimum requirement.
   
• Evidence of current Kansas RN license & a license in any state where clinical occurs.
  
• Applicants are required to purchase a background check through CertifiedBackground.com. This is a National Background Check in your current state of residence. Also required is a signed consent for background check form for the nursing department, SRS Child Abuse check form, and if you are not a resident of Kansas you are required to complete a KBI background check form. The application packet specifies fee amounts to be remitted. Applicants with a criminal history (includes misdemeanors and felonies) and/or arrests for which action is still pending will be evaluated on an individual basis, with no guarantee of admission. There are specific requirements for reporting criminal history on the application for admission.
  
  At completion of MSN common core courses, students must have:
• Current ACLS
• Minimum 2 years previous clinical experience
• Unconditional Admission to graduate study at PSU
• Unconditional Admission to PSU graduate nursing department (and completed graduate folder
  

Application deadlines for first consideration: February 1 for Summer or Fall admission; and Spring admission: October 1. The application submitted, with fees paid, is applicable for only one academic year without being admitted to the graduate nursing program of study. Applications that are incomplete after two years are considered no longer active and are destroyed.

Course work for the graduate degree must be completed within a six year period from the date of first enrollment. Courses which are taken at another institution and accepted for transfer to apply toward the degree must fall within the six year period. Both full-time and part-time studies are available.

At the time of admission into a degree program, students should meet with their advisors to make a tentative plan for their entire degree program. Agreement upon courses to be transferred, waived, or validated should be made at that time. Specific courses and number of credit hours of graduate work taken in special graduate student status that are applicable to the degree should also be determined. Typically, no more than 12 credits taken in special graduate status will apply to a degree at Pittsburg State University. Once admitted, it is strongly recommended that students not engage in full-time employment.

Graduate Assistantships

The Department of Nursing awards assistantships to qualified students. Graduate assistants teach within the baccalaureate program and receive a stipend and tuition waiver. Both part-time and full-time assistantships are available. For more information or an application form contact the department.

Graduate Nursing Program Grading Policy

A grade of "C" or below represents work of insufficient quality, not adequate to pursue subsequent graduate courses in nursing. For this reason, a graduate nursing student must maintain an overall average of 3.0 with no more than two "Cs". A graduate nursing student making a grade of "C" or below must submit a request to the faculty in order to be considered for readmission and repetition of the course. According to PSU policy, only 6 hours may be repeated with no course repeated more than once.

III. Area of Emphasis (from one of the following 2 curriculum tracks)
A. Nurse Practitioner Track
Family Nurse Practitioner Specialty*

B. Clinical Nurse Specialty Track (includes specialty plus functional area)
1. Family Specialty

2. Gerontology Specialty

The Clinical Nurse Specialty Track includes a choice of one of the following functional areas:

Administration Functional Area

Educational Functional Area

* Pittsburg State University cooperates with the University of Kansas, Wichita State University, and Fort Hays State University to offer a joint nurse practitioner curriculum.

Taken from University Catalog

Academic Advising

Students in special non-degree graduate status are assigned an advisor and should consult the advisor before each semester's enrollment.

Students admitted to the MSN program will be assigned a departmental advisor at the time of admission.

The maximum load for full-time graduate students is fifteen semester hours. The maximum full-time graduate academic load for a summer session is nine semester hours. Students who are employed full-time should enroll in no more than six credit hours.

Any transfer or waiver of graduate credit that applies to a degree must have the recommendation of the student's departmental advisor and the approval of the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research.

A maximum of nine semester hours of courses may be transferred from another accredited graduate school.

A maximum of nine semester credits from a completed graduate degree may be used as evidence for waiver of requirements in another graduate degree program. Decisions that requirements may be waived are based on evidence of past course work and/or experience. Waivers are of two types: 1) a requirement may be waived but total degree credit required may be the same; or 2) a requirement may be waived and the number of credits required may be reduced by that credit amount.

Except for research, incomplete work on the graduate level is subject to the rule that it must be completed in the next enrollment period or, with instructors permission, no later than one year after receiving the incomplete. An incomplete not removed within one year shall be regarded as a failure and the I grade will be changed to F and included in the computation of the student's GPA.

Credits earned more than six years before the date of granting the degree cannot be counted to meet requirements for the degree unless they are validated by special examination or repeated. Examinations and grades for validated courses are given by the course instructor and must be filed in the Graduate Office.

Courses are eligible for validation only if they have been taken within a ten year period from when the candidate's degree will be completed. Courses from other institutions may not be validated; therefore, transferable courses must be no more than six years old at the time of granting the degree.

The Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, after consultation with the departmental advisor, may terminate a student's graduate status because of unsatisfactory academic performance. This dismissal may be appealed to the Graduate Council. Students who have grievances concerning a course grade, admission to a program, thesis examination, or other academic decision, may file requests with the Graduate Dean to have the grievance reviewed by an independent committee of graduate faculty and graduate students. The Grievance Committee will review the case and make a recommendation.

The master's degree requires a minimum of 30 semester hours of graduate study for degrees requiring a thesis and a minimum of 32 to 33 semester hours of graduate study for degrees not requiring a thesis. At least fifteen semester hours must be earned in 800-900 level courses open only to graduate students.

A maximum of six semester hours in research courses may be applied toward a graduate degree. Thesis and Research Problem courses proceed at a pace agreed upon by the student and advisor. Nursing students orally present their approved research during a defense before faculty and students, and at the Annual Research Day each Spring.

Nursing students seeking financial aid should contact the Financial Aid Office in 103 Horace Mann. The Financial Aid Office administers a range of scholarships, grants and loans. The Graduate Office also has information specific to aid for graduate students.

After admission to the nursing major, students may complete an application form for the scholarships administered by the Department. Application forms are online and are located at www.pittstate.edu/scholarships The recipients are selected by a committee according to established criteria.

For further information regarding the master's program or to make an appointment, please phone or write to the following address:

Pittsburg State University
Department of Nursing
Pittsburg,KS 66762
(620) 235-4431
Fax (620) 235-4449
www.pittstate.edu/nurs/

Chair
Mary Carol G. Pomatto, ARNP, EdD
Ext. 4432, mpomatto@pittstate.edu

Sharon Bowling, Ph.D.
Ext. 4435, sbowling@pittstate.edu

Cheryl Giefer, Ph.D.
Ext. 4438, cgiefer@pittstate.edu

Ruthellyn H. Hinton, Ph.D.
Ext. 4440, arhinton@pittstate.edu

Barbara Ruth McClaskey, Ph.D.
Ext. 4443, bmcclask@pittstate.edu

Janis J. Schiefelbein, Ph.D.
Ext. 4441, jschiefe@pittstate.edu

Susan Seglie, MSN
Ext. 4445, sseglie@pittstate.edu