Nursing, Direct Entry MSN (DE-MSN)

The MSN program at MidAmerica Nazarene University prepares nursing professionals for advanced roles in nursing education, as well as healthcare administration and quality.  Graduates are equipped to educate, lead, and inspire others, fostering excellence in healthcare delivery.  Rooted in MidAmerica’s mission of nurturing a Christlike community in pursuing academic excellence and a passion to serve, the graduate nursing program emphasizes faith integration, leadership, professionalism, and innovation.  Through a focus on quality and safety, informatics, person-centered care, interdisciplinary collaboration, and population health, the MSN program provides a comprehensive framework to promote and advance professional nursing practice.

Direct Entry MSN (DE-MSN)

The Direct Entry Master of Science in Nursing prepares individuals with a non-nursing bachelor’s degree to enter the nursing profession at the graduate level. Students complete foundational pre-licensure nursing coursework integrated with master’s-level study in leadership, quality and safety. This hybrid pathway equips graduates for RN licensure and early career readiness while also preparing them for future advancement into leadership and other advanced professional roles.

Direct Entry MSN Nursing Program Outcomes

Faith Integration - Using one’s Christian faith to guide one’s life and professional nursing practice.

1. Acknowledges and/or demonstrates an appreciation of the role of the Christian worldview in promoting holistic health of self and others. 
2. Supports patients with differing moral-ethical and/or cultural values through mutual respect and shared decision-making. 
3. Recognizes and provides for the spiritual needs of patients, families, and interdisciplinary team members in a compassionate manner. 
4. Appreciates sacred Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience as the foundation to know the triune God - Father, Son, Spirit; generating a deepened spiritual journey and allowing faith to guide advanced professional nursing practice. 

Formational Thinking  - Exercising intellectual curiosity, creative problem-solving, and precision of thinking by locating, analyzing, organizing, and applying knowledge for meaningful solutions for one’s life and for professional nursing practice.

1. Identifies credible, authoritative sources and cites relevant, essential information. 
2. Integrates evidence-based practice with individual patient preferences and values to deliver safe and effective individualized care. 
3. Identifies necessary changes that will enhance the quality and safety of care. 
4. Prioritizes nursing care effectively using a flexible and adaptable approach. 
5. Demonstrates a commitment to life-long learning and scholarship to heighten the quality of nursing practice. 
6. Applies theoretical and scientific concepts to make clinical judgments and decisions. 
7. Integrates, translates, and applies established and evolving knowledge from nursing and other disciplines to formulate sound clinical judgment and propose innovation in nursing practice. 
8. Generates, synthesizes, translates, applies, and disseminates nursing knowledge to improve health and transform healthcare. 
9. Applies established and emerging principles of safety and improvement science to enhance quality and minimize harm to patients and providers. 
10. Evaluates and integrates information and communication technologies and informatics processes that meet regulatory and professional standards and help manage and improve the delivery of safe, efficient, quality care. 

Discovering Creation - Learning and interpreting information from creation as a person and incorporating this information into one’s personal life while engaging in professional nursing practice.

1. Recognizes and values personal attitudes regarding others’ ethnic, cultural, spiritual, and social backgrounds. 
2. Demonstrates a commitment to life-long learning and continual self-assessment to achieve one’s highest potential. 
3. Acquires nursing expertise and affirms leadership through participating in activities and self-reflection that foster personal health, resilience, well-being, and life-long learning. 

Communication & Self-Expression - Communicating effectively and engaging in therapeutic use of self when working with persons with diverse nursing care needs as a professional nurse.

1. Collaborates effectively with members of the healthcare team to foster open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient care. 
2. Utilizes information technology to improve patient care outcomes and create a safe care environment. 
3. Manages conflict and negotiates equitable solutions with others. 
4. Respects patients’ rights to personal healthcare records while protecting confidentiality. 
5. Evaluates the effectiveness of interprofessional collaboration in optimizing patient care and outcomes. Proposes innovative strategies for fostering collaborative relationships across professions and with care team members, including patients, families, and communities to enhance the healthcare experience and strengthen outcomes. 
6. Develops and cultivates a sustainable professional identity that reflects nursing’s characteristics and values and demonstrates accountability, perspective, collaborative disposition, and comportment. 

Global Citizenship - Promote factors that create a culture of safety and caring for diverse populations.

1. Exhibits personal responsibility for advancement of self as a professional nurse. 
2. Provides safe, effective, and holistic nursing care to developmentally and socio-culturally diverse populations. 
3. Designs, delivers, and evaluates comprehensive personalized healthcare that demonstrates a compassionate understanding of the patient’s development, social contexts, and values, as well as evidence-based practice. 
4. Analyzes population health data to identify trends and disparities and proposes evidence-based interventions. Collaborates with stakeholders across the care continuum to design and implement health promotion and disease prevention strategies for equitable healthcare outcomes. 
5. Supports healthcare as a complex, adaptive, and nuanced system and effectively coordinates resources to provide safe, quality, equitable care to diverse populations.

Senior Comprehensive Exam

The Senior Comprehenisve Examination for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree has two components:

1. Evidence of Readiness for the NCLEX-RN®
   1. Students must take a computerized standardized examination that predicts student success on the NCLEX-RN® (ATI RN Comprehensive Predictor).
   2. Students must attend a 3-day live preparation course offered by the Pre-Licensure Nursing Department.
2. Successful completion of the NURS 5684   Nursing Internship course.

Curriculum Plans

• DE-MSN Curriculum Plan  

Requirements for Admission to the Direct Entry MSN (DE-MSN) Program

Nursing Program Prerequisites   Note: Prerequisite courses must be completed prior to admission into the nursing program

All prerequisite courses must have a minimum grade of C- or better.  

Academic Progression in the Pre-Licensure Program

All official transcripts and/or CLEP test scores for previous college coursework must be received by MNU by completion of Module One/first semester. Missing official transcripts at that time will result in the student being withdrawn from the program. 

The following are requirements for progression in any BSN nursing program (TBSN, ABSN, HBSN, DE-MSN):

1. A grade of C (73%) or higher in all courses of the major with a prefix NURS. A grade of less than a C (73%) is considered a failing grade for any NURS course.
2. A grade of C (73%) or higher on the testing portion of the course grade for all NURS courses. The test average will be calculated as an overall test average.  
3. If either the test average OR the final cumulative grade is below 73%, the lower of these two scores become the final grade for the course and the student fails the course. 
4. Clinical/lab components of a course are graded pass/fail. Any lab or clinical portion of a course must receive a PASS to be successful. Students who have a passing didactic grade for a course, but fail the lab/clinical component, will receive an overall failing grade (F) for the course.
5. Failure of a NURS course, either didactic or lab/clinical, will result in the student being unable to progress with their cohort.
6. Withdrawing from or dropping a NURS course while academically failing (below 73% cumulative or test agerage) will be treated as a course failure for purposes of progression.  This will count as one NURS course failure under the School of Nursing Progression Policy.
7. A student’s progression is individualized based on the timing at which the failure occurred.  Many courses require the successful completion of prerequisite NURS courses to ensure they have the foundational knowledge needed to succeed.
8. If a C (73%) is not achieved in any NURS course, a student may repeat a course once to earn the necessary grade. This practice is allowed once for a single course in the nursing curriculum. Failure to achieve a C (73%) in two NURS courses, or the repeated nursing course, will result in dismissal from the School of Nursing.

Information Related to Licensure and NCLEX-RN® Examination

Graduation from the Direct Entry MSN program prepares individuals to take the NCLEX-RN® (RN Licensure exam) in any state.  Students taking the examination in Kansas will be notified about application procedures.  Students taking the NCLEX-RN® examination in other states must assume individual responsibility for contacting the appropriate state board of nursing for licensure application requirements and procedures.

For example, individuals who have been convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors may or may not be eligible for RN licensure in a given state.  Other reasons why a license to practice as an RN may be denied, revoked, limited, or suspended in the state of Kansas are also listed in the Kansas Nurse Practice Act.  The entire Kansas Nurse Practice Act may be accessed at https://ksbn.kansas.gov/npa/