MSN Core Curriculum

Preparation for advanced practice,
nurse leaders and teachers

The master's program prepares you:

  • for advanced practice as a nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist in your field of interest.
  • for leadership positions in nursing administration and management.
  • to become a nurse educator.
  • with a foundation for doctoral study if your goal is to be a PhD researcher, practitioner, educator and/or academic executive/administrator.

Because of the nursing shortage — and huge waves of retiring baby boomers — all roles will be in heavy demand for years to come.

Required core courses

All MSN students must satisfy these core requirements as part of their chosen specialty track plan of study. 

  COURSE   TITLE   CREDITS
  NRSG 602/802   Nursing Scholarship   4 cr
  NRSG 603/817   Leadership in Nursing   3 cr
  NRSG 604/804   Health Systems Innovation & Improvement   3 cr
  NRSG 609/809   Health Promotion for Populations   3 cr
  VARIOUS *   Graduate Statistics   3 cr
          16 cr

* Not offered by College of Nursing but available through University of Nebraska system, including UNMC (BIOS 806 - Biostatistics I). Or you may take at/through any accredited college/university. Ask a student services representative for current list of approved transfer courses. 

Next step: choose your specialty track

MSN specialty tracks

Nurse educator training

Distance ed tech support
  Patrick Rejda   Instructional technologist Patrick Rejda is a longtime member of the College's team of instructional designers and systems support staff. They work together to ensure that courses are built and run smoothly for distance learning. 

Their mission is to bring learning alive for remote students — to make it dynamic, collaborative and interactive — by leveraging advanced web-based applications to advance the transfer of knowledge. 

Also available is UNMC's IT help desk for guidance and troubleshooting with UNMC's intranet, learning access, student information and communications systems, including internal Lotus Notes email.

Patrick won a 2010 UNMC Gold 'U' award for outstanding efforts in making technology serve nursing education. It's a family thing. His father Ed, was UNMC's first director of information technology services. His brother John, an ITS specialist, previously received the same award. 

 
  "It's really rewarding when people who were confused or frustrated by technology become enlightened and enthusiastic."  
  PATRICK REJDA  
 
  "Patrick has superb understanding of how to mesh teaching needs with online learning needs and make it come alive on screen."  
  JOYCE BLACK, RN, PhD  
  Lead editor of the widely used textbook, Medical-Surgical Nursing,' and an authority on wound care and pressure ulcers.