Program Coordinator: Dr. Amanda Cornine
Phone: 508-929-8129
Email: acornine@worcester.edu

Program Description

The Master of Science in Nursing (Public and Population Health Nursing Clinical Specialty Track) degree program is designed for nurses who are interested in improving population health, healthcare, and community systems in the U.S. and around the world. Our multi-disciplinary curriculum teaches you to:

• Become a leader to work effectively with diverse stakeholders and communities
• Use skills in community assessment and engagement, policy and program development and evaluation, budgeting, and management to drive healthy change, policy, and high impact solutions to health problems

Graduates are expertly prepared in:

• Advanced levels of the national public health competencies http://www.phf.org/resourcestools/pages/core_public_health_competencies.aspx
• Community and population level prevention
• Social justice, and
• Collaborative leadership

Graduates of the program excel in traditional and non-traditional nursing practice roles in different employment sectors.

Examples of practice roles for MS in Nursing (Public and Population Health Nursing Clinical Specialty Track) graduates include;

Education: Nursing Faculty, Manager of School Health Services, RN-BSN Program Director. 

Healthcare: Division Director in hospital and public health institution, Hospital-based Population-level Care Manager or Coordinator, Chronic Disease Program Manager, Director of Clinical Services at a community and migrant health center, and

Government: Nurse Manager and Director at urban and rural public health departments, Community Health Director, Public Health Nursing Advisor at public health department, AACN/CDC Public Health, Nurse Fellow, US Public health Service Nurse, Equity & Environment Program Manager. 

Tribal Institutions: Community Health Program Supervisor

Nonprofits: Director of a national environmental health nonprofit, Program Director and Assistant Director at local and regional nonprofits, Mental Health Project Manager, Regional Director of Health Equity at a voluntary health agency, Chief Nursing Officer at a nonprofit for global health

Business: Self-employed Public Health Nurse Consultant, Employee Health Nurse and Program Supervisor

The Master of Science in Nursing program at Worcester State University is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org).

Admission requirements

Applicants to the program must meet the following criteria in addition to the WSU Graduate School's general admission requirements. This program does not require applicants to submit GRE scores.

• A Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing
• An unencumbered license to practice as a registered nurse.

See: https://www.worcester.edu/graduate-admissions/

Items Needed to Apply:

• Online application found at www.worcester.edu/apply
• Essay explaining reason for pursuing this degree program
• Application fee
• Two professional references
• Official transcripts from ALL colleges and universities attended showing a Baccalaureate in Nursing degree from a regionally accredited institution
• Official transcript evaluation for any transcript from outside the United States
• An English language proficiency test if the student’s academic background is not in English
• Evidence of an unencumbered, unexpired nursing license from one of the following states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or New York

Program Requirements

Admissions Requirements

In addition to Worcester State University Graduate admission criteria, applicants to the Master of Science in Nursing Program must:
● Have achieved a GPA of 2.75 in undergraduate study. Applicants may seek conditional admission with a GPA of 2.5 if they have demonstrated substantive growth as a professional nurse.
● Have a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from an accredited program.
● Hold a current unencumbered license to practice professional nursing in one of the states where practicum is approved, which include MA, RI, CT, ME, NH, NY (contact nursing@worcester.edu if you would like to complete practicum in another state)

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the Worcester State University graduate program in nursing, graduates are prepared to:

• Integrate nursing, related sciences and humanities to analyze, design, implement, and evaluate nursing care across diverse settings at the Master’s Level.
• Provide leadership in the delivery and evaluation of strategies for improving delivery of high quality and safe patient care by using ethics, critical decision-making, and effective working relationships from a systems perspective.
• Direct continuous quality improvement methods and initiatives to promote a culture of safety, professional accountability, and evidence-based patient care.
• Participate, leading when appropriate, in collaborative teams to improve care outcomes and support policy change through translational research and knowledge dissemination by generating meaningful evidence for nursing practice.
• Integrate emerging informatics, health care technologies, and related ethical principles into clinical decision-making processes.
• Advocate for policies that improve the health of the public and the profession of nursing.
• Participate, lead and coordinate when appropriate, inter-professional teams across care environments to reduce barriers, facilitate access, and improve health outcomes.
• Synthesize broad ecological, global, biological, and socio-cultural determinants of health to assess the profession’s leadership role and accountability toward improving the population’s health.
• Demonstrate Master’s Level Professional Practice through the development of nursing interventions and advocacy to implement safe, quality care to diverse populations in a variety of settings and roles.
• Integrate clinical prevention and population health concepts in the development of culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate health education, communication strategies and interventions.