Master of Science in Nursing with an Emphasis in Health Care Informatics
Overview
Integrate Technology to Improve Patient Care
The Master of Science in Nursing with an Emphasis in Health Care Informatics is designed for BSN-prepared nurses who want to better understand and apply the data involved in healthcare to make better decisions through evidenced-based practices.
The master's program in nursing informatics from the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions culminates in a capstone course that provides an opportunity for you to develop an evidence-based practice project proposal that addresses a problem, issue or concern in professional practice. You identify a problem amenable to research-based intervention, search literature, propose a solution and develop a plan to implement the solution, evaluate its outcomes and disseminate the findings. In addition to your MSN capstone project, you take courses that help you develop the skills necessary to improve patient care through the use of technology and data analysis.
The baccalaureate degree in nursing, master's degree in nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice at GCU are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Select states may have additional requirements to meet their standards; reference your enrollment agreement or contact GCU for more information.
Degree Outcomes
Learn to Make Better Healthcare Decisions
This MSN with an emphasis in healthcare informatics program can help you use patient and health data to achieve better patient outcomes, reduce costs and optimize operational efficiency. With this master's degree in nursing informatics, you may be able to help your organization adapt to the integration of technology and the continuous changes in patient-care systems. You have the opportunity to learn how to automate clinical care, build new operational data systems, train healthcare workers in the use of computer systems and analyze data to improve patient care.
What You Will Learn
Discover Healthcare Innovations
Course topics include:
- Healthcare research analysis
- Ethics, policy and finance
- Healthcare information systems
- Project evaluation and development
- Healthcare innovation
Career Outcomes
Help Improve Your Organization through Technology
As a graduate of our nursing degree program, you may take on a role such as automating clinical care, building new operational data systems, training healthcare workers in the use of computer systems or collecting and analyzing data to improve patient care. You may choose to work in a variety of settings, including a hospital, primary care facility, doctor's office, insurance company, pharmacy, technology supplier and consulting firm.
Course List
Program Core Courses
Course Description
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.
Course Description
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.
Course Description
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.
Course Description
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.
Course Description
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.
Course Description
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.
Course Description
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: HLT-610, HCA-610, or HIM-650.
Course Description
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.
Course Description
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, nursing public health, adult clinical nurse specialist, acute care nurse practitioner, and family nurse practitioner. Prerequisite: NUR-508.
Faculty Bios
Program Locations
Online
* The Department of Education defines how an institution must calculate a program's On-Time Completion rate for federal disclosure purposes. The On-Time Completion rate is based on a program’s published required number of months to complete all degree requirements as provided in the institution’s catalog. Completion statistics are updated every January and are based on the cohort of students who graduated between 7/1 – 6/30 of the preceding year. The On-Time Completion rate is determined by the number of students in the cohort who completed the program within the published program length divided by the number of students in the cohort who graduated.
Online and Evening program disclosures* Please refer to the Academic Catalog for more information. Program subject to change.