RN to Master of Science Nursing

The Registered Nurse to Master of Science Nursing (MSN) is an accredited, fast-track online RN to MSN program ideal for nurses who intend to work in the nursing field for a decade or longer. Experienced nurses who hold their Registered Nurse license (and RNs who also hold bachelor's degrees in other fields) can apply their associate degree toward the MSN without having to first earn a BSN. To complete the MSN degree, distance education nursing students complete 18 baccalaureate-level nursing credit hours (and must earn a minimum GPA of 3.0). Then, they apply to the RN to MSN online program and complete 36 graduate credit hours.

American Sentinel's RN to MSN online program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).

With an MSN, a nurse will enjoy greater career mobility and expanded job options. In today's health care landscape, there is a growing recognition that nurses need more education to be fully functioning members of a health care team that contributes to the improvement of patient care and patient outcomes. Increasingly, nurses are expected to advance their education to meet current health care reform initiatives and strengthen the nursing workforce.

American Sentinel online RN to MSN program students can further define their education by focusing on one of five relevant areas. All MSN students must choose one of five specializations:

Case Management
Infection Prevention and Control
Nursing Education
Nursing Informatics
Nursing Management and Organizational Leadership

American Sentinel's RN to MSN is a truly streamlined online nursing degree program, without sacrificing quality or meaningful content. Students take just six courses at the bachelor's level, as compared to many RN to MSN programs, which require students to take almost a full BSN curriculum. Our accelerated nursing degree program gets you further in your career faster so that you can position yourself for new opportunities as they arise.

Relevant Curriculum

The curriculum of the RN to MSN online program is based on contemporary issues in health care today. Nurses study the improvement of health care, creating quality patient outcomes and how to foster strategic change in the health care delivery system. Embedded in the American Sentinel nursing curriculum is an emphasis on quality of care as guided by nursing-sensitive indicators.

In 2009, American Sentinel voluntarily adopted the competencies defined by the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) project (funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) as an integral part of all of our online nursing degree programs. Those six competencies are:

Patient-centered care
Teamwork and collaboration
Evidence-based practice
Quality improvement
Informatics
Safety

American Sentinel is one of a few nursing programs in the country to enhance its nursing curriculum by adopting the QSEN model. Our curriculum prepares nurses to improve the quality and safety of patient care and the health care organizations in which they work.

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the RN to MSN accelerated nursing degree program will be able to:

Assume roles as leaders and collaborators with other professionals and communities in planning, providing and evaluating health care.
Enhance professional nursing practice through research and evidence-based practice.
Use theoretical knowledge to guide advanced practice nursing.
Conduct advanced practice research and leverage insights.
Create new nursing models that expand the role of citizens in global society.
Evaluate health policies and economics.