Master of Science in Nursing Leadership/Education

Degree Path

Program Paradigm | Course Catalog

The Leadership/Education track of the MSN program can be completed in 26 months. Courses vary in length from 7 to 15 weeks and are offered online. Most MSN students will take approximately 6-7 credits per semester (including summers).

Two residencies are required. Each residency is one day in length and takes place on the Saint Francis University campus in Loretto, Pennsylvania*. Each residency has a specific purpose, including networking, project presentations, and collaborative learning. Residencies take place prior to beginning the program (orientation) and during the last practicum course. 

Three major clusters of courses comprise the MSN curriculum:
Core Courses (15 credits)

• Advanced Nursing Practice: Emergence, Theory, and Leadership, MSN 500, 3 credits
• Research for Evidence-Based Practice, MSN 501, 3 credits Leadership for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, MSN 502, 3 credits
• Inter-professional Communication & Collaboration, MSN 510, 3 credits
• Application of Ethics in Advanced Nursing Practice and Health Policy, MSN 515, 3 credits

Leadership & Education Specialization (11 credits)

• Advanced Core Concepts in Health & Illness for Leadership/Education, MLE 509, 3 credits
• Leadership in Measurement & Outcomes Evaluation, MLE 619, 3 credits
• Economics & Fiscal Management for Nurse Leaders, MLE 520, 2 credits
• Leadership for Excellence in Professional Development: Adult Development & Learning, MLE 624, 1 credit
• Leadership for Excellence in Professional Development: Learning in Theory & Practice, MLE 626, 2 credits

Immersive Courses for Nurse Leaders & Educators (7 credits)

• Leading Quality Initiatives in Service & Education (2S/2C), MLE 630, 4 credits*
• Leadership Practicum (over 14 weeks max), MLE 640, 3 credits*

*Students are responsible for transportation, and costs associated with transportation, to and from residency days and the clinical/practicum experiences.

Admission Deadline:

The MSN program has rolling admission

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the MSN program will be prepared to:

• Exercise a selected advanced nursing practice role to ensure the delivery of high quality direct patient care and/or to foster an organizational climate in health care and nursing educational settings that serve to promote high quality patient care.
• Exercise leadership in interdisciplinary collaboration to develop and/or refine organizational structures and processes through which high quality, evidence-based and cost-effective care, and the improvement of patient outcomes are assured.
• Participate in political processes at a variety of levels to influence health care policy that benefits patients, the profession, and the interdisciplinary community of health care providers.
• Make critical, constructive, and effective use of scientific evidence in the implementation, evaluation, and revision of health care services to better serve the health needs of individuals in the context of their families and communities.
• Exercise leadership to cultivate a highly ethical, culturally competent, and caring health care culture through the promotion of self-awareness, effective communication, effective group dynamics, values-based realism, courage, and principled action.
• Employ administrative and clinical information technology to access and leverage knowledge effectively, ethically, and legally in the interest of safe, effective, patient care in a variety of settings.