MSN - Clinical Nurse Specialist Program

The Clinical Nurse Specialist track prepares advanced specialists in Adult Health.  Clinical Nurse Specialists are expert clinicians that practice in a wide variety of health care settings.  In addition to providing direct patient care, CNSs influence care outcomes by providing expert consultation for nursing staffs and by implementing improvements in health care delivery systems.  CNS practice integrates nursing practice with medical diagnosis and treatment of disease, injury and disability. 

For more information about the role of the CNS see http://www.nacns.org/AboutNACNS/FAQs/tabid/109/Default.aspx

Upon completion of the CNS curriculum the graduate is prepared to apply for national certification in Adult Health through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and for recognition by the Texas Board of Nursing as an Advanced Practice RN with limited prescriptive authority.  See http://www.nursecredentialing.org/NurseSpecialties/AdultHealthCNS.aspx and http://www.bne.state.tx.us/

Curriculum and Coursework

To fulfill the requirements for this degree program, the student must complete the following coursework:

• NURS 6363 Rsearch Statistics
• NURS 63XX Research for Evidence Based Practice
• NURS 6361 Nursing Leadership and Health Policy
  
• NURS 6321 Nursing Theory for Advanced Practice
  
• NURS 6315 Resource Management for Nurse Leaders
  
• NURS 6290 Informatics in Health Care
  
• NURS 6331 Aggregate Health I
  
• NURS 6323 Advanced Health Assessment (requires 45 clinical hours)
  
• NURS 6325 Pathophysiology
  
• NURS 6341 Advanced Pharmacology
  
• NURS 6537 Adult/Gerontology CNS I: Diagnois & Management of Acute/Chronic Disease
  
• NURS 6447 Adult/Gerontology CNS II: The Roles of the CNS
  
• NURS 6557 Adult/Gerontology CNS III: Seminar and Preceptorship

Downloadable Degree Plans

• Microsoft Word
• Adobe Acrobat PDF