Nursing Graduate Program Goals and Student Learning Outcomes

Based on the vision and mission statements, the department has identified the following program goals:

• Integrate best practices in nursing education to promote student success.
• Prepare graduates to provide safe, evidence-based, patient-centered care that reflects ethical clinical judgment and inter-professional collaboration.
• Participate in the delivery of care within a variety of environments with the goal of reducing health disparities.
• Use the latest technological innovations to enhance access to our programs.
• Offer innovative programs of study that are responsive to the changes in the health care environment.
• Cultivate in students an intellectual desire for advanced study and inquiry.
• Contribute to the profession of nursing by engaging in leadership, scholarship, and practice activities.

Based on the program's vision, mission, and philosophy and the standards set forth by professional nursing organizations, the faculty have identified the following end-of-program student learning outcomes:

• Integrates scientific findings from nursing, biological, and social sciences to advance nursing practice along the healthcare continuum.
• Conduct research, translate research findings, and critically analyze data and evidence to integrate into advanced nursing practice.
• Assume complex and advanced leadership roles to initiate and guide positive change at the individual, group, and system levels to improve practice processes and outcomes.
• Intervene at the system level through policy development and advocacy regarding regulatory, financial, and political factors to improve practice processes and outcomes.
• Facilitate open communication, collaboration, mutual respect and shared-decision-making amongst key stakeholders in the practice and/or educational environments.
• Direct and provide patient-centered care integrating advanced knowledge of nursing and relevant sciences and humanities to improve health care outcomes.
• Design interventions using advanced knowledge to promote individual and population health, wellness, and disease prevention at the global/local level.
• Integrates appropriate technologies for knowledge management, coordination of care, and complex decision making to improve healthcare quality and safety.
• Models professional behaviors incorporating advanced knowledge and awareness of social justice, legal/ethical standards, regulatory processes, and professional codes.
• Utilize safety science and quality improvement methods for continuous improvement the delivery of safe care.