No BSN?

While applicants to the MN program are expected to have a bachelor’s degree in nursing, the School of Nursing and Healthcare Leadership recognizes that RNs may have gained experience and knowledge in “leadership, quality, and safety” and/or “community/population health nursing” through academic, professional, and/ or personal experiences outside of a bachelor’s program in nursing.

Students with a bachelor’s degree in a field other than nursing can fulfill the leadership and community health nursing requirements in one of two ways:

1. Complete the equivalent leadership and community nursing coursework prior to the second year of the MN program. Admitted students may enroll in approved coursework of TNURS 460: Leading Health Care System Quality & Safety and TNURS 414: Health, Communities, and Populations.
2. Experienced RNs with a baccalaureate degree in a major other than nursing may demonstrate competency equivalent to the bachelor’s degree in nursing by writing a petition for each of the two competency areas to the Graduate Program Committee. Each petition must demonstrate knowledge and experience acquired through academic, professional, and/ or personal experiences in the areas of “leadership, quality, and safety” and/or “community/population health nursing”.

The Graduate Program Committee will review petitions and recommend admission (upon receipt of a graduate studies application) or recommend taking specific UW Tacoma BSN coursework (earning a minimum of a 3.0 grade) for enrollment/application to the program. Prospective students should submit their petitions with their application materials.

For each petition, please address each objective (bullet point) in 250 words or less.

Community/ Population Health Nursing Petition

• Describe examples of social, cultural, political, economic and environmental factors that influence the health of communities, and populations. 
• Discuss theories and strategies used for community assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation.
• Describe the importance of establishing collaborative relationships with diverse partners for health promotion. 
• Describe 2-3 examples of how you have applied community and public health nursing principles.  
• Provide 2-3 examples of when you have demonstrated working effectively within a team of peers.

Leadership, quality, and safety petition

• Briefly describe the organization, structural factors, benefits, and limitations of the U.S. health care delivery system.
• Describe strategies you have used or could use to improve the quality and safety of health interventions and outcomes to diverse populations at the policy, system, and environment levels.
• Discuss an example of the application of data systems and technologies to facilitate effective, safe, and quality health interventions.
• Compare and contrast frameworks for enhancing quality and safety in the delivery of health interventions across care systems.
• Explain nursing’s leadership role in coordinating, providing, and evaluating safe, quality, and equitable care to diverse populations.

Applicants are advised to include not only a description of their professional experience, expertise and education but to also provide examples such as:

• Course descriptions of academic, continuing education, or in-service education courses
• Clinical examples of research utilization or providing health education.
• Descriptions of community projects
• An annotated (detailed, descriptive) resume that highlights professional and community health experiences, whether at work or in the community (both volunteer and paid)
• In-service course descriptions and/or evaluation
• Professional certification, when the exam or requirements for such certification includes knowledge of relevant content or skills
• Committee membership
• Volunteer experience
• Membership and activities in professional organizations