Nursing, M.S.

The SFSU Nursing Master of Science program is for California registered nurses who wish to pursue advanced practice nursing education.  All students engage in clinical practice experiences throughout the two year curriculum and complete a thesis or applied research culminating experience.  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.  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. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) has retired all certifications provided via portfolio review. They are only processing renewals. Effective November 2017, this included the Advanced Public Health Nursing (PHNA-BC) certification by portfolio.

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.

RN-MSN Family Nurse Practitioner Concentration
Through advanced education and clinical training  with a family population focus, students who pursue this area of study are prepared for both California NP license and national board certification (American Academy of Nurse Practitioners & American Nurses Credentialing Center). Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are licensed to practice autonomously and in collaboration with other health care professionals to assess, diagnose, treat, and manage the health needs of patients of all ages. NPs can also serve as health care researchers, interdisciplinary consultants and patient advocates. The purpose of the nurse practitioner education program shall be to prepare a graduate nurse practitioner to provide competent primary care and/or acute care services in one or more of the categories.

Nurse practitioner means an advanced practice registered nurse who meets board education and certification requirements and possesses additional advanced practice educational preparation and skills in physical diagnosis, psycho-social assessment, and management of health-illness needs in primary care, and/or acute care. Primary care means comprehensive and continuous care provided to patients, families, and the community. "Primary care" focuses on basic preventative care, health promotion, disease prevention, health maintenance, patient education and the diagnoses and treatment of acute and chronic illnesses. "Acute care" means restorative care provided by the nurse practitioner to patients with rapidly changing, unstable, chronic, complex acute and critical conditions in a variety of clinical practice settings.

Students are required to complete a clinical component to determine competence, "Clinically Competent” means the individual possesses and exercises the degree of learning, skill, care and experience ordinarily possessed and exercised by a certified nurse practitioner providing healthcare in the same nurse practitioner category. The clinical experience must be such that the nurse received intensive experience in performing the diagnostic and treatment procedures essential to the provision of primary care.

“Clinical practice experience” means supervised direct patient care in the clinical setting that provides for the acquisition and application of advanced practice nursing knowledge, skills, and competencies.

“Direct supervision of students” means a clinical preceptor or a faculty member is physically present at the practice site. The clinical preceptor or faculty member retains the responsibility for patient care while overseeing the student.

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.