Master of Science in Nursing

Education track graduates will be prepared to serve in the nurse educator role by teaching in schools of nursing or as educational staff for clinical agencies. The program prepares graduates for the National League for Nursing Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) Certification Exam

Administration track graduates will be prepared to serve in nursing leadership and nursing administrative roles that may provide opportunities for enhanced health care delivery systems and ultimately improved health for the citizens of our regions. The program prepares graduates to take administrative certification exams through either the American Organization of Nurse Executives or the American Nurses Credentialing Center. 

Graduate Program Outcomes

1. Model excellence in nursing leadership to improve nursing practice within a complex health care system.
2. Conduct advanced nursing practice within ethical-legal guidelines, professional policies and regulations, and standards of practice associated with a specialty area of practice.
3. Synthesize knowledge from nursing as well as biological, behavioral, social, administrative, educational, and communication sciences for application to a chosen domain of advanced practice nursing.
4. Demonstrate scholarly inquiry and reflection that exemplifies critical, creative, and systems thinking to advance the practice of nursing.
5. Frame problems, design interventions, specify outcomes, and measure achievement of outcomes while balancing human, fiscal, and material resources to achieve quality health outcomes.
6. Use information technology and knowledge-based resources to manage and transform data that inform clinical practice.
7. Systematically apply evidence from research findings to answer clinical questions, solve clinical problems, and develop innovative nursing interventions for selected patient populations.
8. Demonstrate collaborative practice and interpret nursing science within an interdisciplinary context.
9. Articulate the effects of culture, diversity, values, and globalization in the design, delivery, and evaluation of health services.
10. Engage in lifelong learning activities that contribute to professional development as well as to the advancement of nursing

MSN Admission Guidelines

• Submit official transcripts from all colleges and universities you have attended are required. (this includes IU Southeast School of Nursing BSN alumni). GRE testing is not required.
• Undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale from an NLNAC or CCNE accredited program.
• Current unencumbered license as a Registered Nurse (RN) in Indiana. Applicant must also complete a form statement attesting that there is no action pending or have been taken against their licensure in Indiana or any other state they currently hold or have held a license to practice nursing or healthcare. U.S. will need to submit evidence of passing the CGFNS exam.
• Statistics grade: Applicants need to have a grade of B- or higher in a three credit, 300 level (or higher) class, and it must have been taken within the last five years of the date of application. If the course is less than 300 level, check with a graduate counselor or submit a course syllabus (not course description) to be reviewed for acceptability.
• Essay (goal statement): A 250-word essay describing and explaining professional career aspirations as an advanced-practice nurse.
• Computer skills: Verification of ability to use computer technologies including accessing, retrieving, receiving, and communicating information.
• Applicants whose native language is not English must take the Internet-based version of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), which has a speaking portion. International students must apply through the Indiana University Southeast Office of Admissions via the International Students website
• Essential abilities: Applicants must agree to the essential abilities policy of the School of Nursing. The policy states that students must demonstrate essential abilities in a variety of areas (judgment, neurological function, emotional coping skills, intellectual/conceptual skills, and other behavioral attributes) as well as meeting all progression criteria.
• Submit three professional references.
• Criminal background check: Applicants must provide verification of a federal criminal background check within the past 12 months.
• Clinical practice: Two years of full-time relevant clinical practice as a Registered Nurse (RN) in the past five years. Application may be made during the cycle when the two years is in process.

Standards of Performance

Students in the School of Nursing are expected to adhere to standards of performance and ethics that are the foundation of the nursing profession.  These standards include:

•  IU Southeast Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct
•  ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses; and
•  IU Southeast School of Nursing Essential Abilities (see immediately below).

Essential Abilities

Students accepted into the IU Southeast School of Nursing program will need the cognitive ability, emotional stability, and physical endurance to complete the program and practice professional nursing. When determining professional suitability for the practice of nursing, the student must be able to do the following: exercise safe judgements based on assessment data, remain visibly calm in emergency situations, interact in a caring manner with others, follow directions, be flexible, and demonstrate honesty, integrity, commitment, cooperation, respect, and accountability. The student must not pose a significant risk to the health and safety of self or others. Qualified applicants are expected to meet all admission criteria and matriculating students are expected to meet all progression criteria, as well as the following essential abilities: 

1. Essential judgement skills to include: ability to identify, assess, and comprehend conditions surrounding patient situations for the purpose of problem solving around patient conditions and coming to appropriate conclusions and/or course of actions.
2. Essential physical/neurological functions to include: ability to use the senses of seeing, hearing, touch, and smell to make correct judgements regarding patient conditions and meet physical expectations to perform required interventions for the purpose of demonstrating competence to safely engage in the practice of nursing. Behaviors that demonstrate essential neurological and physical functions include, but are not limited to observation, listening, understanding relationships, writing, and psychomotor abilities consistent with course and program expectations.
3. Essential communication skills to include: ability to communicate effectively with fellow students, faculty, patients, and all members of the health care team. Skills include verbal, written, and nonverbal abilities as well as information technology skills consistent with effective communication.
4. Essential emotional coping skills: ability to demonstrate the mental health necessary to safely engage in the practice of nursing as determined by professional standards of practice.
5. Essential intellectual/conceptual skills to include: ability to measure, calculate, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate to engage competently in the safe practice of nursing.
6. Other essential behavioral attributes: ability to engage in activities consistent with safe nursing practice without demonstrated behaviors of addiction to, abuse of, or dependence on alcohol or other drugs that may impair behavior or judgement. The student must demonstrate responsibility and accountability for actions as a student in the School of Nursing and as a developing professional nurse consistent with accepted standards of practice (School of Nursing, General Policies, C-5 - Essential Abilities).

Students failing to meet these essential abilities, as determined by faculty, at any point in their academic program may have their progress interrupted until they have demonstrated their ability to meet these essential abilities within negotiated time frames.  Refer to Student Policies for more information.

ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses

Each person, upon entering the nursing profession, inherits a measure of the responsibility and trust associated with the profession, along with the corresponding obligation to adhere to the standards of ethical practice and conduct it has set.  Nursing students are expected to show responsibility in their behavior; to deal with faculty, peers, patients, and clinical staff in a direct and honest manner; and to be professional in their conduct.  Students who violate accepted standards for professional nursing may be discharged from the program.  The Code of Ethics for Nurses was adopted by the American Nurses Association in 1950 and revised in 1960, 1968, 1976, 1985, and 2001 (Reissued in 2010).

1. The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth and unique attributes of every person.
2. The nurse's primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, community or population.
3. The nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient.
4. The nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice; makes decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and to provide optimal care.
5. The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety, preserve wholeness of character and integrity, maintain competence, and continue personal and professional growth.
6. The nurse, through individual and collective effort, establishes, maintains, and improves the ethical environments of the work setting and conditions of employment that are conducive to safe, quality health care.
7. The nurse, in all roles and settings, advances the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standards development, and the generation of both nursing and health policy.
8. The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and reduce health disparities.
9. The profession of nursing, collectively through its professional organizations, must articulate nursing values, maintain the integrity of the profession, and integrate principles of social justice into nursing and health policy.