Master of Science in Nursing

The Master of Science in Nursing program provides students the skills to pursue a career in research and/or academia.

Students are mentored to develop critical perspectives and offered opportunity to work in research teams within and across disciplines, within the strategic research foci of the School of Nursing: health needs of people, marginalized populations and health equity, knowledge translation, and health systems and health workforce planning and impact.

Program graduates will gain:

  • Understanding of knowledge and knowledge construction within the discipline and, where appropriate, outside the discipline
  • Ability to critically synthesize research to support a sustained argument in writing
  • Comprehension of research methodologies to create knowledge
  • Ability to communicate ideas, research, and conclusions

Program Structure

Full-time students in the MScN program are expected to complete the program in two years.  Part-time students are expected to complete the program in four years.

Course Work

Course work is to be completed by full-time students in the first two semesters and by part-time students in the first five semesters.

Full-time

                 Year 1              Year 2           
Fall           NURS5050          
NURS5100
Theory course
Thesis
Winter NURS5120
Statistics
Thesis
Summer Thesis Thesis

 

Part- time

   Year 1   Year 2   Year 3   Year 4
 Fall   NURS050   NURS 5100   Thesis   Thesis 
 Winter   Theory course   NURS5120  Thesis  Thesis
 Summer   Statistics  Thesis  Thesis  

 

Research
Thesis supervisors will be identified on admission.  Thesis supervisory committees will be structured by the time course work is completed. Ethics applications will be prepared simultaneously with the research proposal.

Publications and seminars
Publications are considered evidence of scholarly performance. Students are encouraged to prepare at least one manuscript for submission to a scholarly journal by the end of the program.

Scholars Seminars are held on a regular basis and students are require to attend on a regular basis. Students will be scheduled to present at the series at least once during their program, and are encouraged to avail themselves of other clinical/scholarly opportunities as advertised.

Progress and performance
Supervisors conduct performance and progress reviews quarterly in December, April and July.  The full Thesis Supervisory Committee will meet with the student at least twice per year and provide written feedback.

Annual Progress Reports are completed by the student, supervisor and Associate Director, Graduate Studies.

Required courses

The MScN curriculum consists of five 3-credit hour courses (15 credit hours) and a thesis:

  • NURS5050, Nursing Philosophy, Knowledge and Theory
  • NURS5100, Qualitative Research Methods
  • NURS5120, Quantitative Research Methods
  • Intermediate statistics
  • One of the following theory-based courses:
  • NURS5540, Health Needs of People: Theoretical Insights and Application
  • NURS5550, Marginalized Populations: Theoretical Insights and Application
  • NURS5560, Transformative and Innovative Health System Planning
  • NURS5570, Introduction to the Science and Practice of Knowledge Translation
  • NURS9000, Masters Thesis

Students may also be required by their supervisor to complete additional course work related to their substantive area or to the methodology being used.