Master’s education has to prepare nurses for critical actions within a complex and transforming environment. Master’s courses need to provide nurses with valuable knowledge and skills of flexible leadership required for facing the global challenges of modern healthcare.
Emphasizing the potential value and transforming possibilities of modern healthcare, the present day healthcare education programs focus on expansion of technologies and explosion of knowledge. The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing formulated by American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) outline core principles and curricular elements which should be included into all master’s programs in nursing.
However The Essentials are not prescriptive directives in their nature, and particular colleges can make certain modifications in the design of their master’s programs for nursing. This paper will compare and contrast the AACN essentials with the mission and philosophy of Chamberlain College of Nursing (CCN) and the outcomes of the Master of Science in nursing (MSN) degree program offered by this college.
The core essentials formulated by AACN are put into the basis of CCN mission, philosophy and master’s programs. Therefore, the AACN essentials and CCN mission and philosophy share a number of similarities.
To begin with, the basic aims highlighted in The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing are to improve the quality outcomes, to increase diversity, to create dynamic nursing environment, to design nursing practices, and to translate evidence into practice.
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011), The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing are background for practice from sciences (thus, a master can improve his/her knowledge on the basis of scientific findings, which are related to public health, genetics, and numerous adjacent disciplines), organizational and systems leadership (thus, a master has an opportunity to improve his/her leadership skills), quality improvement and safety.
At the same time, the core objectives mentioned in the CCN mission are to provide nurses with superior education experience focusing on innovation and integrity of healthcare services. Thus, the CCN mission complies with the core values promoted in the AACN essentials.
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011), “Graduates with a master’s degree in nursing are prepared for a variety of roles and areas of practice” (p. 5). On the other hand, as it is proclaimed in the CCN mission, the main characteristics of the college graduates include profound knowledge, professional ethics and transformational leadership skills (Chamberlain College of Nursing, n.d. b).
The AACN essentials cover the areas of background knowledge from different disciplines, organizational and systems leadership, quality improvement, application of nursing theories into practice, the use of informatics and other innovative nursing technologies and the preventative measures aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles.
In that regard, the CCN philosophy is consistent with the AACN essentials and expresses its commitment to high-quality health care and excellence in nursing education. The core values of Chamberlain College of Nursing are excellence, integrity, caring, diversity, student-centered learning and professionalism. Thus, excellence is achieved due to evidence-based practices.
Integrity is based on ethical and moral values. Caring means advocacy, respect, and cultural awareness. Diversity plays an important role to influence the richness of the academic environment regardless of ethnicity, gender, etc. Student-centered learning is based on educational process students are involved into. Professionalism means the generation and use of knowledge and experience through the research process.
The basic aims of CCN are to provide students with special programs to prepare them for practice, to promote productivity, to create a workplace environment, to secure financial support, and to provide students with clinical practice opportunities.
It is notable that the CCN programs are designed in a manner to promote lifetime learning of nurses and encourage them to continue the acquisition of knowledge to meet the challenges of their dynamic profession skills (Chamberlain College of Nursing, n.d. a).
Among the goals pursued by CCN programs is the promotion of evidence-based practice, professional ethics, continuing self-education and self-development of nurses. Thus, it can be stated that the main principles outlined in the CCN mission and philosophy are consistent with the AACN essentials though depending upon peculiarities of a particular, certain difference can take place as well.
Along with a wide range of matches between the AACN essentials and CCN mission and philosophy, particular modifications can be found in the design of MSN programs offered by CCN. These modifications can be explained with the specific needs of students taking up certain narrow fields of knowledge.
Whereas the main principles and goals pursued by AACN and CCN may coincide, there are a number of differences in methods and curricular units. Generally speaking, Master of Science in nursing program provides students with an opportunity to become nursing professionals and complies with the high standards outlined in the AACN essentials.
However, the differences in the curriculum design and objectives as well as methods used are also rather important. Thus, AACN unique outcomes are the opportunities to use complexity science in health care evaluation, to apply economic principles in nursing, to use systems change strategies, to produce new models of care delivery, to use global determinants of health, to apply knowledge of disease management.
The MSN unique outcomes are the opportunities to analyze various theories of education and to synthesize principles of management. The CCN unique outcomes are the opportunities to create a workplace environment, and to secure financial support. The analysis, evaluation, and new application of relevant nursing are the most important points MSN program is based on.
The values of MSN program include the innovation in education, modern technologies integration, person and thought diversity, professional and personal life integrity, and scholarly development.
The opportunities to apply nursing practice, to develop an understanding on how legal factors impact on health care, to investigate the impact of various policies on health outcomes, to articulate to various audiences, to use quality improvement methods, to implement different strategies to provide clients with care, to provide leadership, to promote communication, to work in collaborative teams, to provide clients with advanced nursing care, to apply a personal philosophy of nursing, to identify ethical issues, and to integrate clinical research are considered to be the common outcomes of the Essentials, which CCN is ready to provide students with.
Thus, as it can be seen from the analysis of the main differences and similarities between the ACCN essentials and the CCN mission, philosophy and MSN program outcomes, the main principles of these educational frameworks coincide.
On the other hand, there are a number of specific features in the methods and curricular units of the MSN programs offered by CCN. Whereas the ACCN essentials are not prescriptive directives, CCN made certain modifications in them to adapt the educational frameworks to the needs of particular courses.
Reference List
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2011). The essentials of master’s education in Nursing. Web.
Chamberlain College of Nursing. (n.d. a). Graduate catalog. Web.
Chamberlain College of Nursing. (n.d. b). Master of Science in nursing degree program. Web.