Nurse Executive: Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN-BSN) Completion Program

Students in this course will develop leadership skills to transform nursing and adapt organizations in response to the turbulent healthcare environment. They will develop and apply theory-based leadership competencies to create the organizational cultures needed to achieve quality patient outcomes. Students will also explore evidence-based strategies to create healthy work environments that empower nurses and build collaborative interprofessional teams.

This course is foundational for the Leadership and Management specialty track. Students focus on theoretical and practical aspects of leadership and management functions in healthcare administration, and they discuss standards of practice for nursing administration. They explore a range of topics, including roles and responsibilities, quality improvements, strategic planning and management, regulations, accreditation, and information systems. Through this course, students learn the goals of the nurse leader, including ways to facilitate efficient, high-quality healthcare delivery to achieve excellence in patient care and services.

Students in this course learn about the fundamentals of finance and budgeting in healthcare delivery. They apply financial principles, such as budgeting processes used in multiple healthcare settings and the nurse administrator's responsibilities within the context of leading and managing resources. Through these applications, students explore budget development and management of operational and capital resources. They examine the influence of private and public policies and budgeting models that affect quality outcomes within the aspect of financial planning using information systems. Students also explore budget and resource decisions contributing to the achievement of organizational outcomes within the context of providing efficient and cost-effective quality care.

Nursing leadership is grounded firmly in managing our most important resource—human capital. In this course, students address nurse administrators’ role and responsibilities in human resource management. Students explore current legal, ethical, professional, and practice policies and standards, and they learn how to apply technology to human resource functions. Additionally, students learn strategies to support positive organizational and nursing service goals. They also have the opportunity to gain an understanding of the importance of staff satisfaction as well as creating collaborative and supportive partnerships within organizations.

The development of leadership strategies and competencies that support the healthcare organizational delivery of quality care is imperative to quality outcomes within healthcare systems. In this course, students use a systems approach to explore the organizational structures that impact healthcare quality and, ultimately, positive patient outcomes. Students learn how interdisciplinary collaboration is important to the development of quality management structures, gaining an understanding of how quality improvement is a strategic mandate. Engaging in conceptual and application-based assignments, students focus on clinical and service quality planning, control and improvement initiatives, models and tools for process improvement, and the importance and use of metrics in daily operations.

Nurse administrators in healthcare organizations must be aware of and integrate strategic organizational goals. Students in this course use an interdisciplinary case study approach to examine nursing administrative practice issues as they relate to the strategic planning process. Students apply leadership and management principles, concepts, and theory to strategic issues within the case study format. Through these applications, students learn to use a variety of administrative strategies within the context of supportive and collaborative interdisciplinary relationships to achieve positive patient care delivery outcomes that effect positive social change in patient communities.

Students in this course apply the MSN curriculum experience by translating knowledge into practice by designing, developing, and implementing a project in a professional healthcare setting. By using the culmination of learning, students gain the opportunity to effect positive social change within the healthcare delivery environment in the roles of change agent and nurse. Students' capstone experiences will help them develop their passion as practitioners while enhancing the nurse role as an advocate for social change within a scholarly presence.