Advanced Pathway Online RN to MSN Option
Keep your momentum and reach your goals faster with SNHU’s Advanced Pathway online RN to MSN option, which enables registered nurses to complete the bachelor’s and master’s in Nursing online without a break in continuity.
The Advanced Pathway online RN to MSN option saves tuition and time – up to 22 weeks. Graduate-level course work is woven into two courses in the BSN, resulting in two courses being waived at the graduate level.
Advanced Pathway Online RN to MSN Option Curriculum
Students accepted into the Advanced Pathway online RN to MSN option perform graduate-level work in two BSN courses, thus eliminating two courses from the curriculum for a substantial savings of time and money.
RNs seeking to earn a BSN and continue on to earn an MSN will complete graduate-level assignments in the following BSN courses:
NUR 330 Research and Evidence-Based Practice
NUR 410 Community and Global Health Delivery
RN to BS to MSN students may then waive the following MSN courses:
NUR 501 Global Health and Diversity
NUR 506 Evidence-Based Practice I
Bachelor’s in Nursing Required Courses
(please visit the BSN curriculum for a complete listing of bachelor's degree requirements and additional course information)
NUR 310 Nursing Leadership and Management
NUR 320 Patient-Centered Assessments
NUR 330 Research and Evidence-Based Practice
NUR 410 Community and Global Health Delivery
NUR 480 Policy, Law, Ethics and Regulation
NUR 500 Advanced Nursing Concepts
NUR 502 Teaching and Learning in Nursing
NUR 503 Nursing Informatics
NUR 504 Healthcare Policy and Financing
NUR 505 Leadership in Clinical Microsystems
QSO 640 Project Management
NUR 680 Nursing Capstone Seminar
NUR 681 Nursing Capstone Project
Note: NUR 506 Evidence-Based Practice I and NUR 501 Global Health and Diversity are waived from the MSN for those advancing onto the Advanced Pathway RN to MSN option.
Select a concentration:
Nursing: Clinical Nurse Leader
Nursing: Patient Quality and Safety
Advanced Pathway Online RN to MSN Option Outcomes
Hospitals and other healthcare employers are increasingly seeking nurses with bachelor's-level educations. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is urging that the number of BSN-prepared nurses increase to 80 percent by 2020, a sentiment echoed by the Tri -Council for Nursing as a means to enhance patient care and safety.
An MSN can expand your nursing career employment and leadership opportunities and prepares you to serve as a clinical nurse leader, clinical nursing faculty member and a nursing administrator. The MSN concentrations can ready you for a number of opportunities.
Our Advanced Pathway online RN to MSN option will help you enhance your ability as a nursing professional to meet the needs of changing patient populations and be an active part of efforts in the U.S. to redesign health care.
Outcomes of the BSN program:
- Conducts comprehensive and focused assessments of health and illness parameters in individuals, groups and vulnerable populations.
- Incorporate concepts of patient safety, clinical management and quality improvement to improve patient outcomes.
- Incorporate evidence-based practice interventions (e.g., information systems, patient care technologies) as appropriate for managing the acute and chronic care of patients promoting health across the lifespan.
- Understand the scope and role of policy, finance and regulatory environments in relationship to individual and population outcomes.
- Communicate effectively with all members of the healthcare team, including interdepartmental and interdisciplinary collaboration for quality outcomes.
- Apply knowledge of organizational behavior, nursing theory and systems as appropriate for the scope and role of one's own practice.
- Apply and incorporate a basic understanding of the concepts of health promotion and disease as a means of improving health at the individual, population and community level.
- Incorporate a holistic, caring, culturally appropriate nursing approach that contributes to the wellness and the health of individuals, groups and vulnerable populations.
- Incorporate the qualities, skills, behaviors and knowledge required to function as a patient advocate, practice high quality care, assess and evaluate patient outcomes, and provide leadership in improving care.
- Integrate a holistic approach to local, regional, national and global dynamics in nursing and healthcare system delivery.
Outcomes of the MSN program:
- Synthesize and apply theories and conceptual models from nursing and other related disciplines to facilitate clinical practice decision-making.
- Integrate the use of communication skills, information systems and standardized language in relation to clinical outcomes and continuous performance measures.
- Develop collaborative interdisciplinary relationships and partnerships to improve the health care of the cohort population.
- Interpret and apply evidenced-based data to assess cohort risk, implement interventional strategies, and evaluate outcomes as part of an interdisciplinary health care team.
- Design, implement and evaluate innovative, population-based programs of care to achieve quality outcomes.
- Pursue continuous quality improvement through the clinical nurse leader role.
- Serve as an advanced practice generalist for a cohort population within the selected health care subsystem.
- Create a capstone research project for oral and written presentation on a nursing practice topic.
Advanced Pathway RN to MSN Online Option Admission Requirements
Applicants interested in the Advanced Pathway online RN to MSN option must first be accepted into the online RN to BSN program. Applicants must have graduated from an accredited ADN or diploma school of nursing with a GPA of 2.5 or better. Applicants also must hold an unencumbered registered nursing license by the end of the first SNHU nursing course. Students in the RN to BSN to MSN option must complete the BSN segment of the program with a minimum GPA of 3.0 to progress to the MSN.
Applicants who graduated from the Community College System of New Hampshire after January 2012 are eligible to apply under the conditions of our nursing partnership agreement.
Current CCSNH nursing students should contact their current advisors for specific information.
Accreditation
SNHU is a private, nonprofit institution accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges as well as several other accrediting bodies.
Our online nursing programs were created based on Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education accreditation requirements. SNHU is a provisional member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and is seeking CCNE accreditation.

