Master of Science - Advanced Practice

APRN Program

Students working in the suture lab

The Master of Science - APRN program is no longer accepting applicants. If you are an RN interested in advanced practice nursing, please visit our new Post BS-DNP Program page (coming soon) or our PhD Program page.

The two-year Master of Science in Nursing program (APRN) prepares registered nurses with a bachelor’s degree in nursing to specialize in Adult/Gerontology, Family, or Pediatric nursing.  

 

Specialities Offered:

Adult/Gerontology Acute Care — Nurse Practitioner

Adult/Gerontology Acute Care – Clinical Nurse Specialist

Adult/Gerontology Acute Care – Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist

Adult/Gerontology — Nurse Practitioner Primary Care

Adult/Gerontology — Occupational and Environmental Health Nurse Practitioner with additional focus in Occupational and Environmental Health

Family Nurse Practitioner

Family Nurse Practitioner with Occupational and Environmental Health

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner — Primary Care

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner — Acute Care

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner — DUAL Primary Care/Acute Care

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner & Clinical Nurse Specialist — DUAL Acute Care/CNS

Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist

Admission

Applicants must provide evidence of the following:

1.  Graduation with a BS degree in nursing from a college or university having an accredited nursing program satisfactory to the School of Nursing and to the Graduate Division. Or, graduation with a BS degree in nursing from an international institution with a nursing program satisfactory to the School of Nursing and to the Graduate Division. Applicants with a MSN degree already will not be eligible to apply. The UCLA School of Nursing does not offer these specialties as a Post Master's Certificate program.

2.  Status as a licensed registered nurse; prior to entry into the APRN Program, evidence of current licensure as a registered nurse in the State of California is mandatory.

3.  Prerequisite Courses:  All applicants to the MSN APRN/Post Licensure program must complete the following undergraduate courses prior to entering the program: statistics and nursing research. In addition, students admitted to the program in all specialties must have completed a human physiology course within five years from the start of the program and an approved physical assessment course within three years from the start of the program. Courses may be offered during the summer at UCLA for students who have not already completed an acceptable prerequisite course.

  • Statistics: An upper-division introductory or equivalent biostatistics course that covers the following topics: distributions, sampling, tests of hypotheses, estimation, types of error, significance and confidence intervals, and sample sizes (four quarter units or equivalent; Biostatistics 100A at UCLA). (Approved Statistics Courses)
  • Research: An upper-division undergraduate-level research in nursing course with content that focuses on planning a research project by teaching the student rules for the definition of terms, alternative methods of writing proposals, selecting a sample, choosing a data collection instrument, planning for data analysis, protecting human rights, reading research reports and writing a research proposal (four quarter units or equivalent; Nursing 173 at UCLA). (Approved Nursing Research Courses)
  • Physical Assessment: A comprehensive physical assessment course within the last three years from the start of the program, providing an in-depth review and synthesis of physical assessment skills and knowledge covering the life span (four quarter units or equivalent; Nursing 174 at UCLA) (If admitted, can be completed at UCLA in the Summer Session). A course syllabus is required upon submission of your application. (Approved Physical Assessment Courses)
  • Human Physiology: An upper division or equivalent undergraduate level physiology course that includes human systems physiology through cell physiology with emphasis on membrane properties (four quarter units or equivalent; Nursing 3 at UCLA). (Nursing 3 is an online course offered at UCLA Summer Session). This course must have been completed within the last five years to the start of the program. Pathophysiology is not acceptable. (Approved Physiology Courses)
  • Students are required to have basic computer skills before admissions

4. Professional and/or academic competence in nursing attested through three personal recommendation forms.

5. A scholarship record satisfactory to the Graduate Division and to the School of Nursing with a minimum grade-point average of 3.0.

6. Applicants from countries where English is not the primary language and medium of instruction must complete the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a minimum score of 560 on the written test, 220 on the computer-based test or 87 on the Internet-based test, or complete the International English Language Examination (IELTS) Academic with a minimum overall band score of 7.

Tuition & Fees

Curriculum

After completing the MSN-APRN Degree within an area of advanced practice, graduates achieve the following outcomes:

  1. Integrate evidence-based principles and strategies to design and deliver safe, effective healthcare, and health promotion/prevention education, for diverse individuals, families, and communities in all practice settings. [Essentials* III, IV, VII, VIII, IX]
  2. Provide primary health care by assuming responsibility and accountability for the continuity of health care, regardless of the presence or absence of disease, consistent with the population-specific training of the selected APRN program. [Essentials I, III, IV, VII, VIII]
  3. Demonstrate effective communication, collaboration, mutual respect and shared decision-making with all stakeholders to achieve quality patient-centered outcomes. [Essentials I, III, V, VI, IX]
  4. Synthesize existing nursing science and integrate into advanced nursing practice. [Essentials I, IV, VI, IX]
  5. Translate and integrate best current evidence with clinical expertise and patient/family values and preferences for optimal health care outcomes. [Essentials III, IV, V, VIII]
  6. Demonstrate leadership and advocacy to promote policies, regulations and initiatives supporting healthy communities and patient safety across diverse populations. [Essentials II, V, VI, IX]
  7. Implement strategies to address ethical dilemmas and evaluate outcomes in individual patients, populations, and systems of care that are based on laws, principles of ethics and shared decision-making. [Essentials I, III, IV, VI, IX]
  8. Demonstrate effective participation in a culture of inter-professional collaboration that promotes innovation, team building, conflict resolution, incorporation of values and ethics, understanding of roles and responsibilities, and analysis of impact of diversity in patient-centered care. [Essentials I, II, III, VI, VII]
  9. Analyze and evaluate outcomes data by using technologies and information systems to manage knowledge, mitigate error and support clinical decision-making in all practice settings. [Essentials II, III. V, VII, VIII]
  10. Demonstrate professional engagement to improve access of all patients to quality advanced nursing care through involvement in professional organizations at the local, state and national levels. [Essentials I, II, IV, VI, VII, IX]

*Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing, American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)

In addition, functional objectives for each area of advanced practice for the MSN degree provide role preparation for:

  1. Nurse practitioners to deliver advanced nursing care through the assessment, diagnosis and management of health/illness needs in primary healthcare, assuming responsibility and accountability for the continuity of healthcare in both health and illness.
  2. Clinical nurse specialists to deliver advanced nursing care in a clinical specialty and perform advanced practice consultative, educative, leadership and research roles in inpatient and outpatient settings.