Master of Science in Nursing (MScN) Program
Course Descriptions

Core Courses

N9661 Foundations of Nursing Science

An examination of theoretical, philosophical, historical and developmental perspectives on nursing science. Critical analysis of theory and research as it relates to the development of key nursing concepts.

  • This course is pre-requisite or co-requisite to N9662 and N9663
  • Half course; one term

N9611 Statistical Analysis & Application

This course aims at providing students with a comprehensive understanding of statistical analysis. The course is also intended to provide hands-on training for students to help them become competent with practical applications of the more commonly used statistical techniques encountered in nursing research.

  • Half course; one term

N9662 Post-Positivist Research Methodology

This seminar focuses on knowledge for conducting nursing research placing particular emphasis on the role of theory in designing meaningful investigations of nursing phenomena. Knowledge of quantitative research design appropriateness with regard to sampling, measurement and data analysis is addressed within this context.

  • N9661 and N9611 are pre-requisites or co-requisites to this course
  • Half course; one term

N9663 Interpretive and Critical Research Methodologies

Health and social services frequently require research eliciting in-depth understanding of human experience. This interdisciplinary course provides theory and practice in design, sampling, data collection, analysis and authenticity strategies of interpretive and critical inquiry. The emphasis is on qualitative research methodologies.

  • N9661 is pre-requisite or co-requisite to this course

Required Field Courses

HP - HEALTH PROMOTION AND HEALING

N9678 Theoretical Foundations of Health Promotion

This seminar course will focus on theories and concepts germane to the field of health promotion, both generally and in nursing. The historical evolution of health promotion, broader determinants of health, models of health promotion and current debates and issues related to health promotion will be critically examined.

  • Half course; one term

HP - ADVANCED NURSING PRACTICE STREAM

N9600 Issues and Concepts in Advanced Nursing Practice

Current issues related to the development and implementation of advanced nursing practice roles are examined. Roles, responsibilities, accountability, scope of practice, integrating systems of care, legal and ethical issues are addressed, as well as student selected topics.

  • This course is pre-requisite or co-requisite to N9608 and N9615
  • Half course; one term

N9615 Advanced Nursing Clinical Practicum*

A practice experience in which students integrate theory about health and health problems, findings of clinical research, and knowledge of advanced therapeutics to provide care to individuals and their families. This practice experience will include implementing an advanced practice nursing role and mentorship from someone in such a role.

  • N9600 is pre-requisites or co-requisites to this course
  • Half course; one term

*May be taken as Co-op

NE - NURSING EDUCATION

N9674 Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Education

This course is a study of principles of teaching, learning and evaluation. Learners will examine strategies for enhancing teaching and learning in classroom, non-traditional environments and clinical settings for different populations. Strategies for evaluating learning outcomes in academic and clinical settings will be explored with emphasis on critical analysis and critiquing. Various teaching approaches, including classroom seminars, microteaching and online learning will be used.

  • Half course; one term
  • Workshops and online sessions

HSD - HEALTH SERVICES DELIVERY

N9676 Leadership and Management of Nursing and Health Services

This course focuses on the application of theory and research from contemporary organization and management sciences to the understanding or organizational and care delivery structures and the management of financial and information resources. Emphasis on organizational assessment techniques and design of clinical programs across the continuum of care, work design approaches and operational support systems.

  • Half course; one term

Field Electives

HP - HEALTH PROMOTION AND EDUCATION - ADVANCED PRACTICE STREAM

N9602 Housing and Mental Health

Home is tied to themes of family, friends, community attachment, and nostalgia. Housing is a basic human need, one of the necessities for life itself. Housing is an important deter­minant of health and housing disad­vantage is a unique predictor of poor health. The key problem associated with health and housing is that the most disadvantaged live in the most inadequate dwellings and thus experience the most detrimental health outcomes. Housing is related to economic development, and the development of families, neighborhoods, and communities.

This course will explore the complex issues related to housing and mental health. Students will have the opportunity to explore research data, review current literature, dialogue with community representatives and analyse related policies. Note: Reading must be done prior to class.

N9603 Women's Health

This graduate seminar uses gender, equity and diversity lenses to explore key issues, debates and perspectives on women's health in Canada. Emphasis is placed on analysis, critique and synthesis of theoretical and empirical literature related to how women's health is understood and taken up in research, policy and practice; the social conditions which shape women's health, including determinants of health and structural inequities; diverse women's experiences of living with and managing specific health issues; and women's interactions with the health care system. Strategies for promoting an evidence-based, inclusive women's health research, practice and policy agenda will be addressed.

N9604 Violence and Health

In this course, the three major categories of violence as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) will be explored, with an emphasis on an ecological approach to help understand the multifaceted nature of violence. Through a critical analysis of theoretical and empirical literature, students will gain an appreciation of the root causes, cross-cutting risk factors and the health, social and economic consequences of violence. Nursing's contribution to violence prevention and the promotion of health and healing from violence through research, education, policy development and clinical practice will be explored.

N9607 Advanced Community HP/Population Health

This course examines and integrates concepts, philosophies, models and theories relevant to advanced community health/population-focused nursing practice. Principles of public health, community health, primary health care, and population health as well as health promotion trends and issues pertaining to community health locally, nationally and globally will be emphasized.

N9609 Mental Health Promotion

The purpose of this course is to provide an opportunity for students to gain an in-depth understanding of mental health promotion and recovery from illness gained through a critical analysis and synthesis of theoretical and empirical literature. The student will examine the concepts of community and community integration, primary, secondary and tertiary prevention and models of practice. The content and style takes into consideration the interconnections of power, social difference, race and culture, learning disability, gender, disability, and age that impact on service delivery in maintaining the mental health of individuals and society.

N9610 Aging and Health

This course examines the interface between health and aging. From social, cultural, political, and economic perspectives, multidimensional models, practices, and factors that influence the health of older adults are examined.

N9639 Health in Rural and Remote Settings in Canada

Using a determinant of health perspective, this course examines health and health care challenges, strengths, and solutions in rural and remote Canada, and implications for rural and remote health care theory, practice, education, and research. course content emphasizes geographical, gender,historical, sociocultural, economic, and political variables that affect health and health care for various groups and populations in rural and remote Canada. Multidisciplinary and international content, and research and nursing practice experience in rural and remote settings by the course professor will enrich course content.

NE - NURSING EDUCATION

N9667 Assessment and Evaluation of Learning

This course is a study of methods to assess and evaluate learning in classroom and practice environments, with attention to their underlying educational philosophies and relevant research.. Students will gain experience in exam construction, development of practice evaluation tools, and the creation of written assignments and learning projects.

N9669 Development and Evaluation of Educational Programs

This course is a study of the processes involved in the development and evaluation of educational programs in nursing, whether for nursing students or practitioners. Emphasis is on the development of context.

N9670 Interprofessional Education

This course focuses on examination of the philosophical basis and implementation strategies for the education of future health professionals.  Content includes: philosophy of interprofessional education, current issues related to health professional curricular development, interprofessional approaches to clinical teaching, teaching strategies for stimulating critical thinking, evaluation of learning and legal aspect related to health professional education. It provides course participants with opportunity to reflect on their views towards health professional education and compare these with current interprofessional, health professional and educational research. 

All course participants will be provided with opportunities to develop interprofessional education activities to be delivered within a health professional regular teaching courses. 

N9671 Critical Analysis of Nursing Education for Contemporary and Future

This course provides learners with the opportunity to critically review existing nursing practices that have been embedded in teaching nursing students, and how and whether these reflect current and  future trends in health systems.    Key areas for analysis include the nursing process, nursing care plans, assessment approaches to care planning,  teaching practices, critical thinking as the predominant reasoning approach to learning, and how these practices enhance or interfere with nursing students ability to function within interprofessional  teams.

N9672 Design of Flexible Learning in Nursing Education

This course is a study of the processes involved in the development and implementation of flexible learning opportunities in academic environments.  Emphasis is on distance education and requirements for the use of flexible delivery, decisions to employ flexible delivery and fundamental curriculum implications, and principles of designing courses for flexible delivery.

N9673 Leadership of Nursing Education

This course is a study of the processes involved in the leadership and management of nursing education in academic environments.  Emphasis is on the roles and functions of academic leaders in schools of nursing, trends and transformation in higher education, developing and managing resources, risk-taking, legal and ethical aspects of leadership in nursing education, and fostering accountability.

HSD - HEALTH SERVICES DELIVERY

N9677 Organizational Theory and Design in Healthcare Systems: Part I

This course will provide a critical examination of the theory and research on human resource management issues, leadership and team approaches, organization al performance and productivity and outcomes management. Emphasis on the application of the organizational processes necessary to design, implement and evaluate organizational change interventions.

  • Pre-requisite: N9676
  • Half course; one term

N9685 Canadian Health Policy

N9685 is a prerequisite to N9686, but students may elect to take N9685 without completing N9686. These courses focus on understanding policy development and analysis within the context of Canadian health policy. N9685 focuses on understanding the policy process and exploring philosophical, historical, political and social foundations of Canadian health policy including legislation, healthcare financing and contemporary debates. N9686 focuses on application of the knowledge gained in N9685 to critically analyze the interests, ideologies and institutions that influence Canadian health policy development and implementation. Topics may include primary health care reform, aboriginal health, mental health, homecare, globalization, and equity and social justice in health policy. In both courses, policy frameworks and perspectives grounded in health and knowledge paradigms (post-positivist, interpretive and critical) are utilized.

N9620 Creating and Sustaining Healthy Work Places

This course will include an examination of theories of workplace health and well-being and their application to healthcare work settings. Theory and research and from the nursing management and human resources management literature will be used as a framework for study.

N9621 Organizational Ethics in Health Care

This course will allow students to explore issues confronted by individuals in carrying out their leadership, managerial and professional responsibilities. Topics include ethics theory and applications of critical thinking; organizational and personal responsibilities; ethics and values in a global community; law and ethics: convergence and divergence; rights and obligations of employers and employees; and emerging ethics issues.

Transfield Electives

N9619 The Context of Health Care

Economic, political and social factors at provincial, national and international levels influence health care systems and health professions within it. This interdisciplinary course explores the critical leadership challenges thereby created and cultivates skills for meeting these challenges through seminar and group work.

  • Half course; one term

N9638 Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Health

The major purpose of this graduate interdisciplinary course is to assist students to acquire a global perspective of health and how political, social, economic, biological, and environmental factors affect health. Issues of justice in global health will be addressed, as will the roles of international organizations (e.g. World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization). For some topics, Canadian and international situations will be juxtaposed.

N9685 Canadian Health Policy

These courses focus on understanding policy development and analysis within the context of Canadian health policy. N9685 focuses on understanding the policy process and exploring philosophical, historical, political and social foundations of Canadian health policy including legislation, healthcare financing and contemporary debates. N9686 focuses on application of the knowledge gained in N9685 to critically analyze the interests, ideologies and institutions that influence Canadian health policy development and implementation. Topics may include primary health care reform, aboriginal health, mental health, homecare, globalization, and equity and social justice in health policy. In both courses, policy frameworks and perspectives grounded in health and knowledge paradigms (post-positivist, interpretive and critical) are utilized.

  • N9685 is a prerequisite to N9686. While it is recommended that students enrol in both courses in order to understand the policy process, development and analysis, students may elect to take N9685 without completing N9686.

N9650 Program Development and Evaluation

N9651 Informatics:Theory and Application

This 6 week seminar course will focus on theoretical and conceptual issues related to health / nursing informatics.  The course will provide an introduction to health / nursing informatics in relation to administrative, clinical, educational, and consumer health domains.  Students will have the opportunity to critically examine the use of existing and anticipated health information technologies (HIT) within nursing.

N9652 Intersectoral/Interdisciplnary Collaboration

N9653 Knowledge Translation

Individually Negotiated Electives

N9634 Independent Study

Self directed study of an area of interest to the student not available through course work. Second and third independent studies are designated as 9644 and 9654 respectively. A faculty member who teaches in the graduate program must agree to supervise this course.

  • Half course; one term

N9656 Theoretical and Experiential Synthesis - Not offered

  • MScN Field courses may also be taken as electives
  • We encourage students to take electives from other departments

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