Nursing Management in Complex Systems - Rural Outreach

This proposal requests funding to add a Nursing Management track to the Master of Science in Nursing degree program at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing. Emphasis will be on recruiting students from rural counties throughout Kentucky. The program will be offered at the main campus in Lexington and three outreach sites in rural parts of the state - Morehead, Ky. in the northeast, Corbin, Ky. in the southeast and Madisonville, Ky. in the west. Students may enter as traditional MSN students or as RN-MSN students. A Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee will suggest strategies for student recruitment, retention and job placement of graduates to increase the number of MSN-prepared nurse managers from diverse populations (National Goal II). The curriculum will integrate a strong focus on clinical informatics content in the specialty courses. Four specialty courses are included emphasizing nursing leadership in the implementation of the Healthy People 2010 (DHHS, 2001) (RP 2010) objectives using a community-oriented, distributed learning approach. Three new distributed learning courses will be developed to support this curriculum. Two will be didactic courses: "Clinical Models for Professional and Advanced Nursing Care" (required) and "Cultural Competence in Nursing Management" (elective). The third is a new clinical practicum course, "Rural Health Nursing Management" (required). New clinical placements will be developed for three other clinical courses. The program will use inquiry-based learning because of its appropriateness for stimulating critical thinking in adult learners. Emphasis will be on linkages with local hospitals, long term care facilities, primary care clinics and health departments to increase the numbers of masters prepared nurses available to manage nursing units, departments and programs in rural areas and in clinical agencies serving rural populations and on using information to promote patient safety and quality improvement (National Goal I). Community colleges and university sites will provide recruitment facilities and student support. The College of Nursing will work with the UK Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, Health Administration program to support the nursing management curriculum and interdisciplinary activities. Upon completion of the curriculum and 24 months of nursing management experience, students will be eligible to write the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) certification examination in Nursing Administration. 4