Master of Science in Nursing with an Emphasis in Public Health
Overview
Increase Awareness in Nursing and Community Health
Grand Canyon University's (GCU) Master of Science in Nursing with an Emphasis in Public Health presents you with the knowledge and awareness to drive change in community health. Our MSN degree program, offered online by the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, prepares you to develop, plan, implement and evaluate health programs and services. Using knowledge from both the nursing and public health fields, this program is designed to provide you with the professional skills to define, assess and ultimately resolve modern day concerns in public health. In the MSN: public health, you evaluate emergent concerns, policies and treatments that can inspire changes in healthcare and cause a reduction in disease and illness through research, education and other viable solutions.
In this nursing master's program, you are exposed to content and knowledge from both the nursing and public health fields. Capitalize on stimulating academic discussions between faculty and peers in small class settings to can gain new perspective while reinforcing your nursing skills. Acquire a heightened understanding of public policies, theories, principles and their application to real-life cases. With GCU’s MSN in public health, you combine online coursework with field practicums to prepare you to make a lasting impact as a public health practitioner. The masters in nursing degree program culminates with a practicum and capstone project in which you focus on solving concerns within public health.
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
Practical Learning in Nursing and Public Health
In the public health program, you integrate practical learning with research-based theory to reinforce your skills in nursing and develop your understanding of public health. The MSN curriculum combines the nursing core and national public health curriculum standards to emphasize psychological, behavioral and social factors influencing population-based health disparities.
What You Will Learn
MSN Public Health Curriculum
Course topics include:
- Psychological, behavioral and social factors influencing population-based health disparities
- Factors that impede the delivery of public health services
- Public health system infrastructure
- Environmental dynamics impacting community health and safety
- Patterns of disease and injury in the human population
Career Outcomes
Careers in Nursing and Public Health
As a graduate of the MSN in public health degree, you are prepared for an expanding range of professional opportunities in public health and nursing. Pursue leadership positions in a variety of settings, including hospitals; healthcare facilities; county and state health departments; social service agencies; health policy and planning organizations; universities; nongovernmental organizations, including international health organizations; county, state and federal governmental agencies; community-based health education and health promotion settings; and the corporate world.
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 is designed to provide students with knowledge and skills in application, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of biostatistical data used to inform public health programs, policy, and practice. Students learn to complete statistical analysis using both qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches commonly used in public health practice.
Course Description
This course applies epidemiological approaches to explore patterns of disease and injury in the human population. Emphasis is placed on health indicators, concepts, principles, and methods of chronic and infectious disease epidemiology. Students learn to conduct their own statistical analysis of basic epidemiological measures used for evidence-based decision making using data and reports.
Course Description
This course is designed to examine environmental dynamics that impact community health and safety. Emphasis is placed on determining relationships between chemical, biological, and physical factors and environmental threats that produce inferior health outcomes. Topics include historical and current approaches for assessing, preventing, and controlling environmental hazards, human health and safety, impact of environmental and occupational agents, environmental justice and equity, and the influence of biological information on public health laws, policies, and regulations.
Course Description
This course is designed to provide an overview of the history of public health, system infrastructure, and its key role in health care. Students explore social, behavioral, and cultural factors that impact health populations based on demographic information such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, behavioral risks, and community. Focus is placed on research, theories, and models not exclusively designed for, but applied to, public health issues that help to minimize health disparities through community engagement, education, and empowerment.
Course Description
This course provides an overview of public health system components and competing factors that have historically impeded the delivery of public health services. Students employ systems thinking processes to determine the most effective approach to strategic implementation of programs. Topics include utilization of collaborative partnerships, global trends analysis, evidence-based decisions regarding improved health outcomes for individuals and communities, root cause analysis, public health financing, systems theory, and application to organizational problem solving. This course prepares learners to apply knowledge in an effort to address future health care challenges as well as goals set forth within the Healthy People 2010 initiative.
Course Description
The practicum course is designed to provide students an opportunity to transition from theory to practice. The student reinforces and integrates concepts, principles, and skills gained during coursework that are essential to professional competency. Students are required to complete a minimum of 150 hours of on-site work under close supervision of a faculty member and an on-site preceptor approved by the college or university. Prerequisites: HLT-605 and a release by the college’s Office of Field Experience.
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.