Nursing (Entry Level), M.S.

Program Scope

The Entry Level Master of Science in Nursing at SF State is a six-semester program. This program prepares students who possess a non-nursing bachelor’s degree for the national licensing exam (NCLEX-RN) to become a Registered Nurse.  Students are eligible for the NCLEX-RN upon completion of four semesters and the program culminates with an applied research course or a master’s thesis. The BSN and MSN degrees are awarded after successful completion of the ELM program. Additional information about the program, including student learning outcomes, can be obtained in the nursing section of the SF State bulletin.

Emphases/Specialty Areas

Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
This emphasis offers students in both the Entry Level MSN and the regular MSN programs the opportunity to take courses for certification by the California State Board of Registered Nursing and/or the American Nurse Credentialing Center. The CNS is an advanced practice nurse holding a master’s degree with an emphasis in a specific area of clinical nursing such as adult and pediatrics. Students will need to select an emphasis at the time of application. The role of the CNS is defined by the needs of a select client population and clinical expertise of the nurse.

Nursing Administration
This emphasis enables students in both the Entry Level MSN and the regular MSN programs to combine the nursing perspective and principles of business to become effective and successful managers and administrators. Elective courses can be taken through the College of Business with the advice and approval of an academic advisor.

Women's Health
Students completing this MSN emphasis may go on to pursue nursing roles in the areas of pregnancy and birth, reproductive health, reproductive justice, and gender-related health issues. 

Public/Community Health
Students completing this emphasis are prepared to assume nursing roles in a variety of care settings including public health, home health, and schools. Upon passing the NCLEX-RN students become eligible for Public Health Nurse certification in California. 

Psychiatric Mental Health
Students completing this emphasis may go on to pursue nursing roles in the area of psychiatric/ mental health services in various settings.  Graduates may apply for listing as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse through the BRN after an additional year of supervised clinical practice.  This listing allows direct reimbursement from some health plans for provision of psychiatric mental health services to insured persons.

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Applies and integrates broad organizational, client-centered, and culturally appropriate concepts in the planning, delivery, management, and evaluation of evidence-based clinical prevention and population care and services.
2. Demonstrates nursing and inter-professional collaboration that facilitates open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient care.
3. Creates collaborative programs and educational approaches that address health promotion and disease prevention needs of culturally-ethnically diverse individuals and populations.
4. Demonstrates a professional leadership role to promote quality and safe clinical patient care that incorporates ethical and critical decision-making approaches, fiscal accountability, effective working relationships, and systems perspectives.
5. Assimilates nursing knowledge and expertise through research utilization, informatics literacy, and generates educational, leadership, or clinical approaches to advance professional nursing practice.
6. Utilizes information technology to communicate effectively, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and to support decision-making.
7. Designs evaluation strategies for nursing care outcomes to assess, manage, and determine resource allocation for evaluation of nursing care outcomes.
8. Evaluate methods, tools, performance measures, and standards related to quality improvement within a healthcare organization.
9. Applies research outcomes within the practice setting to resolve identified practice problems.
10. Organizes interventions at the health care system level utilizing policy development processes, economic principles, and employing advocacy strategies to influence health and health care services for individuals, families, aggregates/identified diverse populations and communities.