This Bridge to Master of Science in Nursing: Health Care Informatics program is designed for seasoned registered nurses who have bachelor‛s degrees in a field outside of nursing who want to earn their MSN. Instead of requiring these students to earn a BSN degree, they take six courses from our Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and then launch into the MSN Health Care Informatics track.
This program is designed for registered nurses who want to better understand and apply the data involved in health care to make better decisions through evidenced-based practices. This master‛s program in nursing informatics will assist nurses in the use of patient and health data to achieve better patient outcomes, reduce costs, and optimize operational efficiency.
Graduates of the Bridge to Master of Science in Nursing: Health Care Informatics program may take on roles within an organization such as automating clinical care, building new operational data systems, training health care workers in the use of computer systems, collecting and analyzing data to improve patient care, etc. Graduates of the nursing informatics program may work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, primary care facilities, doctor's offices, insurance companies, pharmacies, technology suppliers, consulting firms, and more.
The program culminates in a capstone course that provides an opportunity for students to develop an evidence-based practice project proposal that addresses a problem, issue, or concern in professional practice. Students identify a problem amenable to research-based intervention; search literature; propose a solution; and develop a plan to implement the solution, evaluate its outcome(s), and disseminate the findings.
| Course # | Course Title | Course Description | Credits |
| NRS-430V | Professional Dynamics | This course is a bridge course for the RN who is returning to formal education for the baccalaureate degree in nursing. The course focuses on differentiated nursing practice competencies, nursing conceptual models, professional accountability, integrating spirituality into practice, group dynamics, and critical thinking. Emphasis is also placed on writing and oral presentation skills. | 3 |
| NRS-434V | Health Assessment | This course focuses on methods of health history taking, physical examination skills, documentation, and health screening. The course emphasizes the individual as the client, functional health patterns, community resources, and the teaching learning process. | 3 |
| HLT-362V | Applied Statistics for Health Care Professionals | This introductory course on statistical concepts emphasizes applications to health care professions. The course is designed to prepare students to interpret and evaluate statistics and statistical methods used in published research papers and to make decisions about the appropriateness of specific statistical methods in a variety of settings. Areas of emphasis include introduction to analysis of variance, regression, and graphical presentation; experimental design; descriptive statistics; sampling methods; and z, t, and chi-square. | 3 |
| NRS-433V | Introduction to Nursing Research | This writing-intensive course promotes the use of research findings as a basis for improving clinical practice. Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies are presented. Emphasis is on the critical review of research studies and their applications to clinical practice. An overview of evidence-based practice is provided. Prerequisite: PSY 363, BIO 363, or HLT 362V. | 3 |
| NRS-427V | Concepts in Community and Public Health | This course focuses on the community as a large system of people of varying cultures, spiritual values, geographic norms, and economic conditions, all influenced by social-legal-political variables that impact individual and community health. Particular attention is paid to vulnerable subgroups in the community. Emphasis is placed on critical analysis, using epidemiological data and functional health pattern assessments to plan and intervene in areas of health promotion and disease prevention. | 3 |
| NRS-410V | Pathophysiology and Nursing Management of Clients' Health | This course is designed to enhance the working RN‛s existing understanding of the pathophysiological processes of disease as they affect clients across the lifespan. The interrelationship of structural and functional reactions of cells and tissues to genetic alterations and injurious agents provide the foundation for comprehending clinical manifestations and treatment protocols. Critical thinking and nursing management are enhanced through the use of case studies that integrate nutritional and pharmacological concepts. The understanding of environmental and biological risk factors provides the nurse with the knowledge to provide health promotion and prevention education. | 3 |
| NUR-502 | Theoretical Foundations for Nursing Roles And Practice | This course examines nursing as a profession and a discipline and the individual nurse‛s role as a member of the profession. The theoretical foundations for nursing practice and roles are explored and applied. Emphasis is placed on developing scholarly writing and presentation skills. Critical thinking skills are refined as students discuss and synthesize the literature that guides nursing practice with a special emphasis on caring, diversity, and spirituality. | 4 |
| NUR-504 | Health Care Research Analysis and Utilization | This course focuses on the critical analysis of nursing and health care research and its application to nursing education, nursing practice, and the delivery of health care services. Emphasis is placed on strategies to access current and relevant data, synthesize the information, and translate new knowledge to practice. Ethical issues in the design and conduct of research are addressed. Prerequisite: NUR 502. | 4 |
| HIM-515 | Foundations and Concepts of Health Care Informatics | This course examines the history, application, impact, and future need for informatics in health care. Emphasis is placed on standards, processes, and systems that impact areas of evidence-based medicine, administrative and clinical practices, information infrastructure, security, and electronic health records. | 4 |
| HIM-615 | Health Care Information Systems and Technology | This course examines the application of information systems in health care settings, beginning with an analysis of the broad meaning and nature of information and systems. The focus narrows to utilization of computer technologies, configurations, and applications as tools to benefit health care environments. Emphasis is placed on the challenges related to the development and implementation of effective information systems in light of a rapidly and continuously changing health care model, evolution of technology team member roles and responsibilities, and advancement of technological requirements within the health care system. | 4 |
| HIM-650 | Health Care Data Management | This course examines health care information resources and their impact on administrative functions, interfaces, data security and integrity, and business processes. Topics include use of relational database management software to construct tables, develop forms, create and execute queries, design and deploy reports, and advance database concepts to automate contemporary business processes. Students are able to distinguish between various network hardware technologies and associated data communications protocols in order to direct how organizations design and implement data networks. Prerequisites HIM 515 and HIM 615. | 4 |
| NUR-508 | Ethics, Policy, and Finance in the Health Care System | This course utilizes health care policy as a framework to analyze how health is defined and health care is designed and delivered in the United States and around the world. Emphasis is placed on issues of cost, quality, access, disparities, and finance. The various roles of the master‛s prepared nurse in the health care system are explored. Prerequisite: NUR 504. | 4 |
| HCA-620 | Business/Project Plan Evaluation and Development | The focus of this course is to begin integrating all previous study and to identify the focus of students‛ final capstone project. Students evaluate and integrate the methodologies, considerations, and strategies for project or program design, planning, implementation, and evaluation that are relevant or specifically required by their specific health care discipline. Topics of investigation and consideration include (but are not limited to) financial and economic impact; resource allocation; competition; public and private educational requirements; availability of information technology; impact assessment of change; process improvement assessment; social, behavioral, and environmental impact; legal/ethical issues; and any other factors that impact the provision of care or subsequent outcomes within an organization and community. A collaborative group project approach is emphasized to enhance contribution and consideration from diverse experiences within the health care field. Prerequisite: Successful completion of all previous coursework in the program of study. | 4 |
| HCA-675 | Health Care Innovation | This course provides an opportunity for students to envision the best possible future for the American health care system, and to understand what changes are necessary to achieve it. By focusing on and developing a set of recommendations for improving American health care, students appreciate the difference between forcing a current system to work harder, and redesigning a system in order to achieve desired outcomes. Students learn how transactional leaders can become transformational leaders, and begin the formal process of preparing for their capstone research project. Students gain understanding of how clinical data, knowledge, and practice are driving the development of health care surveillance systems through informatics. Topics of investigation include the role of informatics in improved patient care and research, organization and national bio-surveillance, and clinical decision support. Consideration is given to legal and regulatory issues in private and public health practice and as they apply to public health security and preparedness in response to bioterrorism and disasters. Prerequisite: HCA 620. | 4 |
| NUR-699 | Evidence-Based Practice Project | This capstone course provides an opportunity for students to develop an evidence-based practice project proposal that addresses a problem, issue, or concern in professional practice. Students identify a problem amenable to research-based intervention; search literature; propose a solution; and develop a plan to implement the solution, evaluate its outcome(s), and disseminate the findings. Problems identified are those that are appropriate to students‛ specialty tracks: nursing leadership, nursing education, clinical nurse specialist, and family nurse practitioner. This course must be taken after completion of specialty courses. Prerequisite: One of the following: 1) NUR 508 or 2) NUR 508 and NUR 649E. | 4 |
| Required Course Total Credit: | 54 | ||
| Courses: | 54 credits |
This program is offered in the following formats or locations:
An online education allows you the flexibility to fulfill your educational goals without distracting you from your career. Full-time faculty members support our online students while our dynamic tools allow for engaging and challenging discussions with classmates. Classes start every month.
Program Disclosure
| Program SOC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
* Please refer to the Academic Catalog for more information. Program subject to change.
Grand Canyon University © 2012 - All Rights Reserved. GCU is an accredited university founded in 1949. We are a Christian university and offer online degree programs and campus based classes. As a private university in Arizona, GCU has six colleges offering business degree programs including an Executive MBA, health science degrees, liberal arts degrees, doctorate degrees, nursing programs, and teaching programs. Our Performing Arts College offers fine arts and production degree programs. GCU is a military friendly school and offers military tuition rates.
