Clinical Practicum Hour Requirements
MSN Nurse Educator
MSN 578 Teaching Residency for Nurse Educators
A total of 100 hours of clinical practice is required in the teaching residency and applied in collaboration with a university approved Master’s or doctoral prepared nurse preceptor with experience teaching students, staff or patients in an academic or other healthcare specialty clinical setting. Nurse educator students who reside in the state of Tennessee are required to complete their teaching residency hours in a clinical specialty area with a nurse preceptor who has expertise in the specialty and teaching experience with patients, staff or others.
Learning objectives, plans and evaluation criteria will be mutually agreed upon by preceptor and graduate student, documented and approved by course faculty in weeks two and seven. Clinical practicum hours will be submitted by students weekly in Project Concert and students will work with the Office of Field Experience (OFE) and their assigned clinical placement coordinator at USU (ofe@usniversity.edu ) to select a teaching mentor and expedite necessary paperwork 16 weeks before entering MSN 578. Students may not complete clinical residency hours that are part of their current employment position/work-related roles and responsibilities and may not enroll in MSN 578 until required OFE paperwork is submitted. .
Evidence-based educational strategies will be developed into a comprehensive teaching-learning plan for patients or professional nursing staff, implemented in a teaching session and observed by the preceptor. In addition, students in collaboration with their preceptor, will provide clinical supervision of direct patient care provided by a nursing student or new RN graduate or newly hired RN during orientation in a health care setting, i.e., patient assignments, supervision of direct patient care and procedures, communication with patients and family members, and evaluation of patient and supervisee outcomes. Other potential objectives and/or actions may include (but are not limited to): creating a toolkit of resource references,developing a PowerPoint® or Prezi® for presentation, creating a survey to measure satisfaction with activity; attending professional meetings, writing a publishable article, presenting a topic to patients; creating a webinar,delivering a training module to staff nurses, developing software to meet a need; creating a Review of Literature, developing an advocacy agenda, or proposing a change in a process or procedure.
MSN Health Care Leadership
MSN 587, Residency in Nursing Leadership and Systems Management (100 Clinical practicum hours)
A total of 100 hours of clinical practice is required in the nursing leadership residency and applied in collaboration with a university approved nursing preceptor who holds at least one earned graduate degree, i.e., MSN, MHA, MBA or preferably, a Ph.D., DNP, DNS, or Ed.D. and has at least one year of healthcare, healthcare technology or other qualifying leadership experience and one year of experience as a registered nurse with a current unencumbered RN license where the preceptor practices. If employed by the Federal government, preceptors will need to have a current, unencumbered RN license to practice in the United States. Leadership preceptors need to be willing and available to participate in providing verbal and written feedback to students in weeks one, four and eight of the term and weekly throughout the eight-week leadership experience. Students will meet with their preceptor in week one to explore and identify three to five mutually agreed upon learning goals and a plan for implementation, in week four to evaluate progress and before week eight to evaluate learning outcomes and the overall clinical experience. At least one learning objective will need to identify a topic for the student’s primary clinical project based upon a problem or issue in clinical practice that is amenable to nursing leadership intervention to improve patient outcomes. Students will conduct an evidence-based literature review on the topic and prepare and present a formal PowerPoint presentation to the preceptor in week seven regarding the patient care issue/topic. Students will present findings from the clinical practice setting resulting from communication with patients, nursing staff and nursing leaders, analysis of available reports and statistics in the clinical setting, compare local findings with evidence-based findings, state the implications for nursing leadership, and recommend interventions for improvement of patient care outcomes. Additional learning goals will include activities to enhance or increase the student’s leadership expertise such as assisting with budget preparation, conducting meetings with leadership or staff.
The mandatory preceptor/student ratio is 1:1. Preceptors will be approved by the Office of Field Experience (OFE), participate in orientation and collaborate with students and faculty in ensuring learning outcomes will be achieved. Faculty will provide written feedback and guidance to students throughout each term, and provide written documentation regarding student achievement at a minimum, in weeks one, four and eight of each term including final evaluation and grading with consideration of preceptor feedback and student self-evaluation comments throughout the eight-week term.
RN- BSN
(Only for students enrolled 8/30/22 and after)
NUR 378 Global and Community-Based Nursing (45 clinical practicum hours)
A total of 45 hours of clinical practice is required in collaboration with a university approved agency or organization leader in the student’s local community whose agency or organization provides services to vulnerable populations of community dwelling residents. The agency or organization needs to be open to the public, readily accessible to students. The agency or organization leader will need to possess leadership expertise, knowledge of vulnerable populations, and preferably hold an earned college degree. Clinical activities begun in NUR 378 will continue in the next and last NUR 499 capstone course. Students will be expected to continue with the same agency/organization leader for eight weeks in NUR 378 and eight weeks in NUR 499. Students will meet with the agency/organization leader at a minimum in weeks one, four and eight. In week one, students will identify 3-5 mutually agreed upon learning objectives for the NUR 378 clinical in collaboration with the designated leader and approved by course faculty. Clinical activities will include one direct patient/client experience which involves interviewing volunteer community dwelling residents who use the services of the agency/organization to assess their perceptions of community services and their health promotion needs. A plan for a teaching presentation to these residents will be formulated and submitted in NUR 378 for implementation to the same residents in a teaching session in NUR 499. Students will identify one or two additional agency leaders in their local community whose agency provides services to vulnerable populations and engage in an interview regarding their perceptions of gaps in services to local vulnerable populations. Additional clinical activities will include independently conducting a windshield survey of the local community, formulating a beginning community assessment based upon evidence-based data, and designing a plan for continuing clinical activities in NUR 499.Students will identify a topic for their teaching plan and focus for their community assessment which requires faculty approval for implementation in NUR 499.
NUR 499 Capstone in Evidence-Based Professional Nursing Practice (45 clinical hours)
A total of 45 clinical practice hours is required in collaboration with the university approved agency/organization leader identified in NUR 378. Students will meet the agency leader at a minimum in weeks one, four and eight. In week one, students will meet with the designated community agency/organization leader to identify 3-5 mutually agreed upon learning objectives for the NUR 499 clinical which will be approved by course faculty.Clinical activities will include one direct patient/client care experience, conducting a teaching session for patients/clients who were interviewed in NUR 378 on a health-related topic or health promotion need previously identified by residents. Additional clinical activities include completion of the community assessment, identification of gaps in services for vulnerable populations in the local community and recommendations for intervention or improvement. Students will formally present their findings and recommendations to the primary agency leader and one or two additional leaders interviewed in NUR 378.