University of Arkansas

Degrees Conferred:
M.S. in Nursing (NURS)
Doctor of Nursing Practice (NURS)

The Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) Program: The program offered by the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing expands on the philosophy of the undergraduate nursing program and contributes to the mission of the College of Education and Health Professions and the University of Arkansas. The semester of entry can be spring, summer, or fall. Graduates of the M.S.N. are prepared to contribute to the nursing profession through the application of knowledge and skills in leadership, education, and clinical practice. Completion of the M.S.N. program provides the foundation for academic progression to a research or practice-focused doctoral program.

Graduates of the M.S.N. program will be able to:

• Promote evidence-based practice through problem identification and the critique of research findings
• Collaborate in policy development, resource management, and cost-effective care delivery
• Apply legal/ethical principles to promote a values-based professional practice
• Affect health care outcomes through advanced roles of clinician, teacher, manager, researcher, and consultant
• Utilize theories from nursing and other disciplines for decision making
• Advocate for access to quality health care for diverse populations
• Collaborate with other disciplines to design, deliver and evaluate health care services for diverse populations
• Provide leadership in education in a variety of clinical and academic settings

Doctor of Nursing Practice Program: The program provides the terminal degree for nurses who will assume leadership roles as practitioners or specialists in the field of nursing.  There are two entry levels for students:  1) post completion of the baccalaureate degree in nursing and licensure as a registered nurse (RN), or 2) post completion of a master's degree in nursing that has resulted in national certification as an advanced practice nurse (nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, nurse midwife, or nurse anesthetist).  The online program is built upon the standards set forth by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (2006), and incorporates specialty standards of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Competencies (2004) and the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (2009).  As such, students completing the B.S.N. to D.N.P. program of study will be eligible to sit for the adult-geriatric acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP), the adult/geriatric clinical nurse specialist (CNS), or the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)  certification exam offered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) based on the concentration completed. Students in both entry levels must complete a D.N.P. project and a minimum of 1,000 clinical hours while enrolled in a graduate program.  Current advanced practice nurses who enter the program as post-master's students must complete clinical hours to supplement clinical hours completed in their master's program.  A variety of distance learning methods will be used to expedite clinical requirements.  However, students should anticipate several visits to the main campus during their program of study.

Upon completion of the program, graduates will be able to:

• Evaluate and utilize advanced knowledge and theories from nursing and related disciplines to solve complex health issues for individuals, aggregates, populations, and systems.
• Design, implement and evaluate strategies that promote and sustain quality improvement at the organizational and policy levels.
• Provide leadership in the transformation of health care through intra-professional collaboration, application of technology, and policy development.
• Incorporate evidence-based clinical prevention and health services for individuals, aggregates, and populations.
• Demonstrate clinical expertise, systems thinking, and accountability in designing, delivering, and evaluating evidence-based care to improve patient outcomes.

Primary Areas of Faculty Research: Job satisfaction, recruiting and retaining nursing faculty; cooperative testing; diversity and high-risk populations, student success, emotional intelligence; patient teaching and safety in the healthcare environment; advanced practice nurses’ work environments, their interface among rural and underserved populations, and their impact on health care outcomes; fall prevention in community dwelling older adults; oral health; mobility in older adults; preventing falls in the acute care setting; transitional care; nursing education best practices; care giver issues in older adults with dementia; cultural and behavioral factors of obesity; health behaviors in children, nutrition beliefs and practices, executive function, motivational factors, cultural beliefs; research affecting the pediatric population; migrant childhood health; lactation assessment and education; infant immune system research; minority population and education; education and cultural evaluation among nursing students; infant feeding; childhood obesity; hematology; oncology; smoking cessation; improving outcomes in trauma care; rib Score and Protocol Pain management strategies in critical care; IA joint injection protocol development; CAMP Scores to measure trauma systems in US; CAMP scores to compare trauma systems in US to Brazil; pediatric autism spectrum disorders: Increasing evidence-based care in primary care clinics; promoting NP practice in Arkansas; higher education and primary/secondary level student issues/concerns; obesity; PCORI; community-engaged research; diabetes; patient/family health education; mental health; implementation of a protocol for screening at-risk walk-in clinic patients for diabetes.