MSN Program Tracks
The PBA School of Nursing offers two entries into the MSN program – Dual Enrollment BSN/MSN, or post-BSN. There are four tracks at either entry point:
Format: Online Hybrid
Degree Requirements: 46 Credit Hours; 780 Clinical Hours
This MSN concentration is designed to prepare nurses to provide primary care across the lifespan. Students are eligible to sit for the ANCC or AANP FNP National Board Certification upon completion of the NP program and apply for Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (APRN) Licensure in the State of Florida. Emphasis is on developing advanced practice nursing knowledge and skills for the provision of health promotion and disease prevention in primary care settings.
Students are required to attend 3 in-person sessions per semester, on campus, during the four specialty courses.
Find more information on curriculum and requirements for the MSN Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)
Format: Online Hybrid
Degree Requirements: 46 Credit Hours; 780 Clinical Hours
This MSN concentration prepares students to provide primary mental healthcare across the lifespan. Students are eligible to sit for the ANCC or AANP PMHNP National Board Certification upon completion of the NP program and apply for Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (APRN) Licensure in the State of Florida. Emphasis is on the assessment, diagnosis and management of mental disorders using psychopharmacological and other psychotherapeutic modalities.
Students are required to attend 3 in-person sessions per semester, on campus, during the four specialty courses.
Find more information on curriculum and requirements for the MSN Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP)
Format: Online Hybrid
Degree Requirements: 46 Credit Hours; 780 Clinical Hours
This MSN concentration is designed to prepare nurses to provide primary care to adults and older adults. Students are eligible to sit for the ANCC or AANP AGPCNP National Board Certification upon completion of the NP program and apply for Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (APRN) Licensure in the State of Florida. Emphasis is on developing advanced practice nursing knowledge and skills for the provision of health promotion and disease prevention in primary care settings for adults and older adults.
Students are required to attend 3 in-person sessions per semester, on campus, during the four specialty courses.
Find more information on curriculum and requirements for the MSN Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP)
Format: Online Hybrid
Degree Requirements: 37 Credit Hours; 510 Clinical/Practicum Hours
This MSN concentration is designed to prepare nurses for positions of leadership and management. A Health Systems leader can enter a health system/practice environment and diagnose systems level problems, develop evidence-based improvement plans, implement the plan for improvement, and evaluate their effectiveness.
- Graduates who meet the practice requirements may be eligible to sit for the ANCC (American Nurses Credentialing Center) Nurse Executive certification or the AONE Certified Nurse Manager and Leader (CNML). (Work experience is also required for eligibility to sit for the certification exam).
- Emphasis is on identifying real world problems, leading the design and implementation of evidence-based quality improvement plans, and evaluating their effectiveness.
Find more information on curriculum and requirements for the MSN Health Systems Leadership
Mission
The mission of Palm Beach Atlantic University School of Nursing is to prepare and equip graduates within a Christ-centered environment to serve God boldly in a life of service in the profession of nursing, incorporating intellectual, professional, and spiritual integrity.
As a Christ-first university, PBA prepares nursing students for lifelong learning and leadership. Our core values include servant leadership, a ministry of caring, a holistic approach, and professionalism. We are dedicated to excellence in everything we do.
Program Goals
- Provide master’s nursing education that builds on prior nursing education and experience.
- Prepare graduates for advanced nursing practice through competency-based education to promote clinical proficiency in their specialty concentration.
- Prepare graduates for evidence-based practice and continuation of scholarship for doctoral studies in nursing.
Program Learning Outcomes
The School of Nursing (SON) offers the MSN based on national standards set forth in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education (2021). The MSN program curriculum is mapped to the following Program Learning Outcomes to advance your career with a graduate degree in nursing:
- Implement and evaluate theoretical and empirical knowledge from the natural and social sciences, Christian faith, and nursing as a source of clinical reasoning and decision-making to provide holistic care in advanced nursing practice specialties.
- Promote advanced nursing practice specialty care that is person-centered, framed in Christian values, holistic, individualized, equitable, respectful, compassionate, coordinated, evidence-based, and culturally sensitive.
- Appraise population healthcare to address disparities and social determinants of health, through wellness promotion, and disease prevention and management, collaborating with community partners, healthcare systems, local government entities, and others for the improvement of equitable population health outcomes.
- Synthesize and evaluate nursing knowledge through the application of evidence-based practice to improve quality of care and patient outcomes.
- Implement principles of safety as core values of advanced nursing practice specialties to enhance quality and minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance.
- Facilitate interprofessional communication and collaboration with care team members, patients, families, communities, and others to optimize care, enhance the healthcare experience, and improve outcomes.
- Apply organizational systems leadership principles within advanced nursing practice specialties to deliver cost-effective, safe, high-quality, and equitable care to diverse populations.
- Implement and evaluate healthcare technologies to gather and interpret data, inform diagnostic reasoning, develop treatment plans and provide safe, high-quality and efficient healthcare in accordance with best practice and professional and regulatory standards.
- Demonstrate and foster a professional identity that encompasses Christian values, moral courage, accountability, integrity, a collaborative disposition, and ethical comportment reflective of nursing’s characteristics and values.
- 10. Implement strategies to equip others and foster personal health, resilience, and well-being, contributing to lifelong learning, and supporting the development of nursing expertise and assertion of leadership.
PBA BSN students may be eligible to participate in the Dual Enrollment Entry, where they will take up to two 3-credit Graduate Level courses during their senior year, while completing the BSN.
The MSN program requires 37-47 credits over 4 semesters, depending upon the track.
Considering a graduate degree in nursing but still have questions? Join our virtual office hours every Monday between 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM hosted by our very own team: Dr. Ng, Associate Dean for the MSN program and Dr. Esposito, Associate Dean for the DNP program. Join at any time during the hour. Use the link here to register for a day: https://apply.pba.edu/portal/nursing_events
