Nursing

Contact Information

phone: (716) 839-8388
daemen.edu/nursing

Chair

Martha Kershaw, EdD, RN, CNE
(716) 839-8387

Degrees

Certificate Programs

NOTE

Consumer Information on Certificate Programs is published on the Daemen Website.

Nursing Department Philosophy

Consistent with the stated mission of Daemen College, the nursing philosophy embodies compassion, personal and professional commitment, and lifelong learning. The complexity of healthcare demands Registered Nurses (RNs) in different levels of practice with a variety of educational backgrounds as crucial members of the health care team. Baccalaureate education is viewed as the foundation for professional practice. Graduate education builds on baccalaureate education through the acquisition of advanced knowledge, skill, and technology proficiency that would facilitate complex decision making to prepare nurses for independent advanced practice in clinical, education, research, and leadership roles.

The faculty views professionalism as the consistent demonstration of core nursing values. Caring and compassion are essential to professional nursing practice. Professionalism involves accountability for one’s self and nursing practice through the demonstration of professional standards of moral, ethical, and legal conduct. Nursing embodies continuous professional engagement to assure competent practice. Service to the community and the profession are essential components of professionalism.

Daemen seeks to build on the RN’s existing knowledge to prepare nurses as leaders in the healthcare community. Leadership promotes ethical, critical decision-making as the nurse designs, coordinates, and manages patient care at all levels of practice. Nurse leaders are necessary to shape healthcare policy and to organize healthcare delivery systems that span the continuum from acute to community-based care. Leadership involves the utilization of interpersonal skills to influence others to move toward achieving a vision or goal with emphasis on practice, improving health outcomes, and ensuring patient safety. The curriculum emphasizes leadership practice, improvement of health outcomes, and ensuring of patient safety.

Central to the nurse’s ability to provide care as a leader in a complex world is clinical reasoning. Clinical reasoning is developed through continual assessment of the quality of information from multiple perspectives including, but not limited to, the humanistic arts and sciences and the biological arts and sciences. Critical thinking employs multiple lenses and perspectives to understanding and interpreting a situation that provides a background for bringing creative and innovative approaches to the health care environment.

Clinical reasoning and critical thinking are developed through evidence-based practice. Evidence based practice embodies the application of existing knowledge and the generation of new knowledge. This implies the use of informatics to gather information, and critical thinking skills to apply the information at the appropriate time. It further promotes the generation of new knowledge through research to answer questions that affect professional practice.

The provision of nursing to a global community encompasses patient centered care of diverse individuals, families, groups, and communities through the recognition and respect of patient differences, values, and preferences. Health needs of the underserved members of the local community are considered in relation to their connection to larger populations. Care to the global community includes demonstration of cultural sensitivity in the identification and formulation of strategies for improved access and use of healthcare services and the sustainability of these strategies.

Vital to providing care to the global community is a nurse’s ability to utilize healthcare informatics. Health care informatics encompasses knowledge, skills, and application of technological advances that are used to optimize delivery of quality patient care. This incorporates both information systems/technology and patient care technology. Graduates from the program will acquire technological skills accessing, utilizing, and evaluating information systems that support and guide safe nursing practice.

Nursing education is viewed as a collaborative process where learners are engaged in classroom, clinical, and external learning environments. Faculty acts as the facilitator to promote and support professional development and student-directed, lifelong learning. The student-centered atmosphere empowers students to grow personally and professionally beyond their initial expectations. The transformation that occurs allows the graduate to impact the nursing profession and society.

END OF PROGRAM STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR ALL MASTERS PROGRAMS

Upon completion of the Master of Science in Nursing program, the graduate will:

  1. Design and implement culturally competent healthcare based on recognition of variants in health, including physiological variations, in a wide range of cultural, racial, ethnic, age and gender groups in a commitment to health of vulnerable populations.
  2. Utilize knowledge to analyze the outcomes of nursing interventions, to initiate change, and to improve practice.
  3. Disseminate results of scholarly work though a variety of methods
  4. Design and independently implement strategies to assess complex situations from multiple perspectives and plan realistic and innovative interventions.
  5. Utilize knowledge of healthcare informatics to accurately interpret healthcare information, to make complex healthcare decisions, and to develop more proficient information systems.
  6. Exert leadership within the profession to promote ethical and critical decision-making and within the healthcare system to advocate for change.
  7. Contribute to professional nursing through evidence-based advanced nursing practice, professional engagement,and service to the profession and the community.

Admission requirements applicable to the DNP program

  • Master’s degree in advance nursing practice from an ACEN or CCNE accredited nursing program. The program must include completion, with a minimum grade of B, of the following graduate level nursing courses or their equivalent: Advanced Health Assessment; Advanced Pathophysiology; Advanced Pharmacology.
  • New York State License and current professional nurse registration.
  • New York State licensure as an Advance Practice Nurse (APN) or eligibility to practice according to specialty standards.
  • Completion of an undergraduate or graduate statistics course with a grade of C or better.
  • Three letters of recommendation, one being from a professional colleague.
  • Submission of curriculum vitae and a written personal goals statement.
  • Interview with the nursing faculty.

Admission requirements applicable to MS programs in Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, Nursing Executive Leadership, Nursing Education, and Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

  • Possession of a baccalaureate degree in nursing from a ACEN or CCNE accredited program or possession of a baccalaureate degree in another discipline. Students possessing a baccalaureate degree in another discipline document their achievement of identified baccalaureate nursing competencies through a process of academic transcript and resume review, and a personal interview with the nursing faculty. Consult the Nursing Department for complete details.
  • One year medical-surgical clinical experience (or equivalent).
  • Completion of an undergraduate or graduate statistics course with a grade of C or better.
  • Cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or above (on a 4.0 scale) from all colleges/universities attended. Applicants with GPAs below 3.25 in undergraduate studies may be admitted on a provisional basis if they submit evidence of the potential to be successful in graduate studies.
  • New York State License and current professional nurse registration.
  • To strengthen their application, students can submit and letter of intent and/or letters of recommendation.
  • Students must also submit a current Resume or Curriculum Vitae
  • Interview with the nursing faculty.

General Policies

COURSE REPEATS

Students must achieve a grade of “B” or above in all curricular course requirements. A GPA of 3.0 overall must be attained to remain in good academic standing. In the event that a grade of “B” is not achieved in a graduate nursing course, the course must be repeated. A student may repeat up to two different courses, one time each, before being dismissed from the graduate program.  A repeat of a graduate course due to a prior grade of “W” will also be counted as a course repeat.

TIME LIMITATIONS

A student admitted to any of the graduate degree programs is expected to maintain continuity in his/her academic program and enroll each semester until all requirements are completed. A part time student may complete 1-8 credits per semester. Full time students must complete a minimum of 9 credits per semester.

Excluding an approved Leave of Absence, all requirements for MS program or advanced certificate must be completed within a period of four calendar years from the student’s initial enrollment for graduate study, regardless of whether the student was initially accepted as a degree or non-degree student. Students following the RN to MS pathway will be granted four calendar years for completion of studies for the MS, the time frame commencing when the student is moved from the undergraduate to the graduate classification.

Excluding an approved Leave of Absence, all requirements for the DNP program must be completed within a period of 5 calendar years from the student’s initial enrollment for graduate study, regardless of whether the student was initially accepted as a degree or non-degree student.

Requirements for graduation for all degree programs and for completion of advanced certificate programs

Completion of all course work as defined under the curricular requirements for the program and:

  1. A minimum grade of B in all courses, thereby resulting in a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.00.
  2. Application for degree/certificate:
    DEGREE CANDIDATES: All degree students are required to file an Application for Degree form with the Registrar’s Office at the onset of the final term of study. The Application for Degree form is accessible through Self-Service.
    CERTIFICATE CANDIDATES: All certificate students are required to file an Application for Certificate form with the Registrar’s Office at the onset of the final term of study. The Application for Certificate form is accessible through Self-Service.
    NOTE: Participation in the Commencement ceremony is not applicable to certificate candidates.

 

 Course Sequences

Access the course sequences for the DNP, MS, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, MS, Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, MS, Nursing Education, MS, Nursing Executive Leadership, from the Nursing Department web pages.

Insurance

When a student enrolls in NUR550, NUR551, NUR 561, NUR 562, and NUR630 a mandatory fee of $50.00 is imposed to cover malpractice insurance during the clinical practicum experiences. This is required by the College regardless of whether the student has additional malpractice insurance of his or her own.