Nursing Leadership Program Overview
The nursing management and organizational leadership specialization is designed for experienced professionals seeking to develop their nursing leadership skills. The nursing leadership specialization prepares students to advance their leadership and management abilities and work toward the achievement of optimal health in the dynamic health care system.
Through case studies and hands-on course work, nurses examine the various human resource challenges facing an organization as well as the dynamic nature of the strategic planning and management processes. Courses cover long-range planning, including budgeting, analysis, reporting and developing a capital budget.
Students are prepared for careers in nursing administration and health information management where they will manage resources, collaborate with a variety of other professionals and apply technology, information systems and critical thinking to their jobs.
Students graduating with American Sentinel’s CCNE-accredited MSN, nursing management and organizational leadership specialization, complete 36 credit hours of course work. Students may be eligible to transfer up to 18 credit hours from previous graduate study.
Specialization Learning Outcomes
Graduates of the MSN program, nursing management and organizational leadership specialization, will be able to:
- Propose new organizational structures and policies to address organizational issues.
- Develop strategic, operational and financial planning documents.
- Interpret labor laws and union bargaining agreements to plan for human resource initiatives.
- Adapt leadership theory to personal leadership style.
Career and Industry News
Health Care
- Preventing Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) >> Read Story
- Critical Care Travel Nurse Turns Her Career to Teaching >> Read Story
- Longtime Pediatric Nurse Turns to American Sentinel to Strengthen Her Skills as a Nurse Educator >> Read Story
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Curriculum
Completion of the MSN, nursing management and organizational leadership specialization, requires 36 credit hours. Students may be eligible to transfer up to 18 credit hours from previous graduate study.
| COURSES | CREDIT HOURS* |
|---|---|
| REQUIRED COURSES (36 credit hours) | |
| Core Courses (18 credit hours) | |
| N500 Health Care Systems | 3 |
| N505 Theoretical Foundations | 3 |
| N510 Diverse Populations and Health Care | 3 |
| N515 Research Design | 3 |
| N520 Introduction to Modern Organizations and Health Care | 3 |
| N550 Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Care Management | 3 |
| COURSES | CREDIT HOURS* |
|---|---|
| Nursing Management and Organizational Leadership Specialization (18 credit hours) | |
| N525 Human Resources Management | 3 |
| N530 Leadership in Health Care Organizations | 3 |
| N535 Health Care Informatics | 3 |
| N540 Health Care Finance and Economics | 3 |
| N545 Health Care Strategic Management and Planning | 3 |
| N555 Strategic Capstone Seminar | 3 |
Career and Industry News
Health Care
- Preventing Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) >> Read Story
- Critical Care Travel Nurse Turns Her Career to Teaching >> Read Story
- Longtime Pediatric Nurse Turns to American Sentinel to Strengthen Her Skills as a Nurse Educator >> Read Story
American Sentinel University Health Care Blog:
Subscribe for updates to via RSS OR
by Email
Successful Students and Alumni
Nurse Manager Applies Informatics Course Work to Improve His Hospital
After serving four years active duty in the Army and two years in the National Guard, Warren earned his associate degree in nursing in 1990. “My mom was a nursing assistant her entire career, so I was drawn to it,” says Warren. “I took a health sciences class, and a couple of professors told me I had a knack for it.” In 2006, Warren earned his BSN, but he always had his sights set on an MSN. >> Read full story
Floor Nurse Uses MSN Course Work to Empower Staff
Using change management skills he gained from his online MSN studies at American Sentinel, Chris Kowal, RN, BSN, was able to identify a more appropriate pain assessment tool for his hospital’s critical care unit and design a pilot program to study its effectiveness. The results were remarkable. “I was able to better manage patients’ pain and get them out of the ICU more quickly,” Chris says. “And the new tool improved productivity at the same time. Thanks in part to Chris’s help, the ICU unit earned the coveted Beacon Award. The Journal of the New York State Nurses Association published an article Chris wrote documenting his success with the program. >> Read full story
Career Opportunities in Nursing
As a clinical nurse specialist, you could go into education or consulting in a health care setting. As a certified nurse anesthetist, you could work with patients and doctors to prepare patients for surgery and treat them afterward. And as a certified nurse midwife, you could work with babies and expectant mothers. MSN graduates may also choose to move out of the clinical practice setting and work in administration.
In today's rapidly changing, highly technological health care environment, nurses with a nursing informatics background and education are more valuable than ever. Nursing informatics involves the integration of information and data to support nurses and other health care professionals. American Sentinel's nursing informatics degree teaches nurses to use information technology to streamline their processes around documentation and record keeping, ultimately improving the patient experience.
The American Sentinel distance nursing degree program will prepare you to advance your nursing career with an MSN degree. Learn more about advancing your nursing career in American Sentinel’s nursing chat series with NurseTogether.com.
Job Outlook for Nursing
Today, there is a call for more highly educated nurses capable of expanded roles, from community care to acute care. RNs with an MSN degree should have excellent job prospects, including in accountable care organizations, long-term acute care, health informatics and infection prevention and control. Learn more about the Bureau of Labor Statistics outlook for nurses.





