How would you like a streamlined education track towards your Masters in Nursing, if you’ve already had quite a bit of experience in the nursing field? Your choice to enter into a career as a nurse was driven by your desire to not only provide a good life for you and your family but also to help others when they needed it the most. Along the way to that decision, you discovered that there are a lot of great advantages to a nursing career, such as job security, a wide variety of working environments to choose from and, of course, opportunities for advancement.
It was those opportunities that led you to continue on to become a Registered Nurse, and as an RN you found new and even more challenges ways to advance yourself while making a real difference in peoples lives. Now you may feel that your opportunities have stalled again.
You would love to take the next logical step and become a Nurse Practitioner, or even a Head Nurse at a major medical center, but you need to possess a Masters degree for that. There is only one thing to do then, and that is to get your Masters of Science in Nursing.
The good news is that Florida National University has a fabulous program in place that helps you make that jump from RN to MSN quickly and easily. Let’s take a look at the RN to MSN program available at FNU and how it can help you advance your nursing career to the next level.
RN to MSN Program at FNU
This program is designed for those who were educated as doctors in other countries, but whose level of recognition here is a nursing degree. It is also designed for those nurses who earned a Bachelors in nursing from another institution and want to advance their degree to a masters degree.
The streamlined education track offered in this program is intended to provide professional nurses with strong educational background and previous medical training with the evidence-based knowledge and the practical skills needed to earn their MSN. This program also offers the same overall program concentrations that are offered under the MSN program for those who are pursuing a career path as a Nurse Educator or Nurse leader/Nurse Manager. This program also offers the skills and foundational core needed to pursue a career as a family nurse practitioner.
The RN to MSN program has a requisite of 55 minimum credit hours for successful completion and consists of the following courses and credit requirements:
NURSING CORE COURSES (37 credits)
- Nursing Theory
- Physical Assessment in Health Care
- Pathophysiology
- Crisis Intervention
- Nursing Research I
- Nursing Research II
- Ethical and Legal Aspects of Nursing Practice
- Culture in Nursing Practice
- Health Care Policy
- Decision Making
- Advanced Nurse Role
- Evidence-Based Nursing Practice
For a Nurse Practitioner degree, there are additional requirements (see below).
Family Nurse Practitioner Career Track (9 Credits)
- Advanced Pharmacology
- Advanced Health Assessment
- Advanced Pathophysiology
Choose from different concentrations at FNU in nursing, including Nurse Educator, Nurse Leadership & Management and Family Nurse Practitioner.
Nurse Educator Concentration (18 Credits):
- Introduction to Educational Concepts
- Nursing Curriculum Development
- Instructional Technology
- Clinical/Classroom Teaching & Learning Strategies
- Nurse Educator Practicum
- Assessment & Evaluation Strategies
Nurse Leadership & Management Concentration (18 Credits):
- Nursing Leadership & Management
- Organizational Dynamics
- Nursing Decision-Making for Complex Health Systems
- Health Care Informatics
- Nursing Leadership & Management Practicum
- Financial Management & Resource Development
Family Nurse Practitioner Concentration (18 Credits):
- Advanced Primary Care of Family I
- Advanced Primary Care of Family Practicum I
- Advanced Family Practicum III
- Integration Advanced Primary Care of Family
- Advanced Primary Care of Family II
- Advanced Primary Care of Family II
The above credits are the base, but additional credit requirements may be required to complete the program and will be addressed with the candidate’s academic advisor upon enrollment.
In addition to meeting the enrollment guidelines for the MSN program at FNU, candidates who are pursuing the RN to MSN program must also meet the following requirements:
- Take the ENG 1120 & ENG 1130 courses and obtain a minimum grade of C prior to being granted admission to the RN-MSN program.
- Possess and Active Florida state RN license
- Possess a Bachelor’s degree, preferably but not restricted to Nursing, from an accredited educational institution. This degree must be in some associated or related field. The degree’s acceptability will be at the discretion of the Vice President of Academic Affairs as well as the Dean of Nursing. The student may also present a Foreign Medical Degree along with the appropriate proof of transcript equivalencies from any approved and recognized accredited Credential Evaluation Agency or educational institution.
What Comes Next?
After you have been granted admission to the RN to MSN program, you will be on your way to earning your MSN from FNU. This is a great way to advance your career to the next level. You will have challenges and you will learn the skills along the way that will help you to meet them and succeed beyond them. At FNU we believe that excellence comes from within and when given the support and resources needed everyone can rise to be their best.
Helping You Find Your Brighter Future
Florida National University has been helping those who wanted to advance their career do so for more than 30 years. We are a regionally accredited university offering career programs to the population of Florida. With multiple campuses, we are near you and with online learning programs, we make it more convenient than ever to get the education that you need in order to be a strong candidate in today’s highly competitive workforce. We help turn you into an indispensable part of a healthcare team, and place yourself in the best position to take advantage of advancement and leadership opportunities when they arise. Our graduates are consistently at the top of short lists for hiring, and enjoy job security with their employers, even in the leanest of time because employers know an FNU graduate is a team member that they can count on.
Let’s Get Started
We look forward to helping you get started with your RN to MSN transition. Below you will find some links to helpful resources both here at FNU and to other items that you will need such as financial aid. For more information about our programs, click to download our current catalog and if you need to speak to someone you can call our admissions office at (305) 821-3333. You can also use our online contact form to get in touch with us. We are excited to have you become a conquistador, and to help you take the first steps toward the brighter future you can have as a Master of Science in Nursing.
Florida National University Admissions Office
FNU Financial Aid Department
2018-2019 Florida National University Catalog [PDF]
FAFSA Application Online
