The School of Nursing Graduate Programs are designed to prepare nurses to use an expanded skill, theory, research, and knowledge base in advanced roles within various settings. The programs emphasize the preparation of students to meet the dynamic needs of the international, multicultural, and multilingual society in the Rio Grande Valley and beyond.
Graduate program outcomes:
- Function as a scholar with critical thinking skills supported by theories from the behavioral, physical, and nursing sciences.
- Demonstrate organizational and systems leadership in the application of client care interventions incorporating informatics and health care technology to improve population health care outcomes
- Collaborate as a member of an interprofessional health care team to advocate for safe and effective client care being cognizant of cultural, societal, economic, political , ethical, and legal issues.
- Promote quality improvement in the provision of culturally competent care to diverse populations through integration of health policy, planned programs, education and advocacy.
- Integrate scholarship and research into masters-level practice that is grounded in the sciences and humanities.
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UTRGV SON offers the following graduate programs:
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Family Nurse Practitioner Specialty Role Objectives:
- Apply theories, research and conceptual models from nursing and related disciplines to facilitate best practice and clinical decision-making in primary care across the lifespan.
- Integrate the use of communication skills, information systems, technology and systematic reviews in relation to client management across the lifespan.
- Develop collaborative and interdisciplinary relationships and partnerships that are critical in best-practice health care environments for patients/clients and their families.
- Demonstrate leadership, ethical decision-making and safe practice in the conceptualization, design, implementation, and evaluation of health care delivery across the lifespan.
- Provide leadership in human resources development, education, and management to improve nursing care across diverse populations.
Doctor of Nursing Role Objectives:
- Assess, analyze, evaluate, and manage complex health environments serving diverse populations to improve patient and population health outcomes;
- Apply clinical scholarship and available evidence to make clinical and system decisions incorporating professional values and ethical principles;
- Support and improve patient care and health care systems using clinical practice models, health policy, informatics, and organizational leadership skills;
- Advocate for clinical prevention, population health initiatives, and evidence-based health policy through interprofessional and stakeholder collaboration.
- Function as a scholar with critical thinking skills supported by theories from the behavioral, physical, and nursing sciences.
- Demonstrate organizational and systems leadership in the application of client care interventions incorporating informatics and health care technology to improve population health care outcomes.
- Collaborate as a member of an interprofessional health care team to advocate for safe and effective client care being cognizant of cultural, societal, economic, political, ethical, and legal issues.
- Promote quality improvement in the provision of culturally competent care to diverse populations through the integration of health policy, planned programs, education, and advocacy.
- Synthesize research-based evidence to create implement, evaluate, translate, and disseminate into practice.
The conceptual framework of the UTRGV School of Nursing curriculum contributes to the development of the course content to advance the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of all its graduates. Grounded on the SON philosophy and mission, the curriculum is centered on the belief that the role of the nurse is to assist the person/family/community in developing their full potential to enhance wellness, prevent illness, promote self-care for optimal health, or cope with dying and death. In accordance with professional nursing standards and evidence-based guidelines for practice, the SON degree programs emphasize the preparation of students to meet the dynamic needs of the international, multicultural, and multilingual society of the Rio Grande Valley.
There are eight major concepts related to the central belief integrated throughout the nursing curriculum at UTRGV. These concepts are:
- The individual as a holistic being (People)
- Society as multicultural and diversity (People, Campus Life)
- Wellness and illness as a continuum (Health Education & Patient Care)
- Nursing as a critical thinking, problem-solving process (Academic Excellence)
- Research and evidence-based practice (Research & Scholarship)
- Inter-Professional Practice (Health Education & Patient Care; Community Engagement & Integration)
- Education as a facilitator of change (Student Access & Success)
- Leadership (People; Community Engagement & Integration)