Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) - Virtual Information Session

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. We're going to go ahead and get started in just a moment, but we'll let everyone get make sure that your microphones are working, make sure that you can hear us if you are joining us live, If you are joining us as a pre recording, thank you as well for watching this and just give us a second as we do get our live audience participants settled.

All right, it looks like everyone is in. Fantastic. All right, My name is Jen Radwanski, and I'm the associate director for graduate admissions here at Stockton University.

Glad that you're joining us today to learn more about our Master of Science in Nursing and our Doctor of Nursing practice programs here at Stockton. I am joined by two amazing colleagues at both of the program chairs for these respective programs and I am going to give them an opportunity to introduce themselves in just a moment and then again turn the program over to them for the presentation about their wonderful programs. Before I do that though, I do want to share with you all that we do have a chat feature if you are joining us live and you can put questions in the chat.

But we would ask that you save those questions towards the end as we may cover your answer or the answer to your question as we proceed with the presentation. But if we do miss something, please save those questions till the end and we're happy to answer those. If you're watching the recording of this, we will give you contact information on how to reach back out to us with those questions and we'd be happy to answer them then as well. So Mary and Laird are going to turn things over to you to do your introductions and to kick off the program. Thank you so much for joining us today.

I'll go first only because the program will be turned over to Doctor Ruffin. So welcome and thank you for joining us. I am Doctor Mary Padden denied. I am the chair of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program and Associate Professor of Nursing here at Stockton. So welcome and I hope this session answers a lot of your questions.

Doctor Ruffin.

So much, Doctor. Pardon. Hello. What a wonderful occasion to have you guys join us for this wonderful presentation. My name is Doctor Larry. I'm an Associate Professor of Nursing and also the chair of the MSN program and the Postmaster Certificate program. We are really excited to have you joining us today.

OK, so let's let's move to the presentation.

OK, so here. OK, you have the the presenters here.

So our mission.

The mission of the Graduate Nursing Program is to develop competent nurse practitioners or advanced Practice registered nurses to practice in a culturally diverse and rapidly evolving world. And you will see that we use these terms as practitioners versus Advanced Practice Registered Nurse.

This is based on how the term is being used.

Nation.

Also although they are practically you know there are some some interchange between the two but you will hear those terms being used.

Inter interchangeably a lot of times so.

The university and the graduate nursing program remain responsive to our community, so we don't just really just do things for doing things, but we constantly.

Listen to our community's needs in order to come up with with programs or changes that are necessary to address the needs of our community.

We believe that independent experiential learning forces students to choose their education and future professional endeavours, and we embrace the University's guiding principles, the university's vision values and the strategic plans.

So how? How did we get here?

So we are very proud that in two years the program will be half a century old.

So in 1975 the RN Two BSN program was started.

And in 1998?

We started the Adult Nurse Practitioner Program and Fast forward in 2004 we started to offer the Family Nurse Practitioners Certificate Program as a Postmaster certificate.

In 2006, we instituted a pre licensure nursing program.

Moving forward in 2014, we had a partnership with Chatham University for our DNP program. We started that and then moving forward to 2016.

We started the accelerated nursing program, which is really flourishing in 2018.

They post BSN and post MSN DNP program was open here for enrollment.

And we probably graduated our first cohort of DNP in 2021.

And most recently, in 2023, we started the MSNFNP track.

So before, of course we had that AFNP as a postmaster certificate, but for a number of reasons we've decided.

To have the the MSNFNP track and now students can enroll into these drugs.

So the MSN put in in in DNP program he had stacked on offers a broad Curry options so it has no practitioners. You will be working in a variety of setting and and and the main things that you do as a practitioner you assess patients you diagnose and treat acute.

And chronic illnesses.

So basically all the things that.

That patients seek care for. The nurse practitioner is able to do that and we are very proud of our program, very proud of our graduates.

To see what they have accomplished over the years. So the FNP families, practitioners and adult Jo primary careless practitioners are the practice in primary care urgent care centres in clinics.

Private homes.

Insurance companies and doing Wellness programs and and more so there is a vast array of areas that.

FNPS and AGP CNPS can practice.

So with our program we follow a a cohort model with small class sizes.

So we do have a core group of full time faculty here.

We are very dedicated to our students.

Is students they come first and so so we have a mentor He had stacked on his student 1st and we we don't only.

Say student first, but we really acted and in our graduate can really tell you they can testify to the fact that.

We listen to our students and and we are responsive to our students and we support our students and we are really proud of our faculty here.

In the graduate program, we offer a classes in in an online synchronous manner to allow students to attend class while sitting at home. So we understand that there are a lot of things that we can do.

To to help students to be more productive and while we recognize the value of face to face and we incorporate that into our program as well and we also recognize the fact that a graduate nursing students usually work as as nurses and and sometimes coming to campus trying to find parking in in the in the evening.

It can become an issue. Actually this is something that we we started discussing right before Kovid and when Kovid hit, it was a no brainer to to offer graduate education in an online synchronous manner. So this is different. Our program is not an online program because you are not doing anything by yourself.

And you, you will be coached throughout the entire program.

Why You attend class online on Zoom, you have a your professor with you asking live questions. And of course there are weeks where you might be online on your own. But this is the model we we embrace to make it easier for for our students.

So the classes are usually.

Is between 6:00 and 9:00 OK and and and some of the.

Professors and in consultations with the students might offer some courses 5:00 to 9:00 so you will see that as well My 5:00 to 8:00 or 6:00 to 9:00 so.

These are the times we currently use so with our curriculum.

So we have our core courses and then and we have the program courses and the DNP project courses.

So basically in the core courses you have everyone taking all the core courses. So these are courses that are required for to earn a Master's degree in in nursing.

And then you have the program specific courses whether you are doing Adult Geo Ontology, a primary care nurse practitioner track or you are doing the the family nurse practitioner track. So you would have those program specific courses and then for those who are doing the Doctor of nursing practice.

A program they they will have the project courses.

At the.

So of course, these are the tracks I just mentioned.

The adults you want to logical primary care nurse practitioner track. We offer that for both a masters level and a postmaster certificate level. So why postmaster certificate? You have people who completed a masters degree in let's say nursing education or Nursing informatics and if these students or these graduates?

Would like to pursue in a practitioner track so they have the option.

To come to us and and complete the the Postmaster certificate track.

As far as the Family Nurse Practitioner, so yes, now we do have the the MSN track. Of course you earn your Master's degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner, but also we offer a postmaster certificate. So the postmaster certificate is for let's say you you.

If someone decided to become an Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner or an Adult Nurse practitioner or a Psych Nurse practitioner and then later on decided to become a family nurse practitioner. If you were already a nurse practitioner and now want to become a nurse practitioner, a family Nurse practitioner, we have a seven credit.

Two courses, a track that that will help you fulfill that dream.

But also if you were.

A. A.

If you had your masters in Nursing education or or Healthcare informatics or Nursing informatics, so so you would.

Have more courses to complete. You would have to complete all the clinical courses, but of course you would earn a postmaster certificate in that regard as well.

So, so they they post mass, I mean the the doctor of nursing practice. So we also have the post BSN track and a post MSN track. So the post BSN track is for those who would like to go straight for the DNP without stepping out to get their masters degree first. So those students will be able to to do that as ABSN nurse you go straight.

And you get your, your, your doctor of nursing practice out of the way. And we also have the Post MSN track which is only 27 credits for those.

Who've earned their.

Their MSN whether it was in education or or or informatic or or nurse practitioner or adult general primary care MP or FNP. So you can come to us and and complete the 27 credits that you receive your doctor of Nursing practice.

And of course with the.

Post BS and DNP tracks, we offer the concentrations in both FNP and AGPC and P.

So our program is accredited, OK, so we have been accredited by CCNE which is the Commission on a Carriage Nursing education and with most of the.

Nursing programs in the US are being accredited by.

This a body, so we are willing to, we are really proud.

To be accredited by.

And yeah, so our program is nationally recognized and once you become eligible to sit for your certification exam, you can take either the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

A certification exam. Or you can take the American Nursing Credentialing Center Certification exam.

And we prep you to to be efficient to sit for these certification exams.

Now what about clinical practice hours?

So as MSN, the minimum clinical practice hours required is 750.

750 hours not minutes, there is a typo there so well actually that's that means minimal, so 750 hours minimum and you can see the adult Geo primary care and PS have to complete 750 clinical hours.

And a total of 46 credits, whereas the FNP feminist practitioners have to complete 770 hours.

And 50 credits, so both tracks are maybe completed in 24 months.

Or 33 months. We know there are students who want to come in and and get it out of their way. So we we provide that fast track.

And those who want to do it a little longer, 33 months, we also provide that track, so now.

The the difference is that the 24 month option begins in the summer. OK. So the 24 month option begins in the summer whereas the 30 the the 33 months option may begin really begins in the.

In the fall semester.

So you have, you know you you have to make your decision and and we will work with you. We've had students who started in one track and then you know later on decided to to move to the other track. So we work with our students to meet their needs.

So while we have our program as an online synchronous program.

You know you act in classes via zoom in the clinicals we have what we call on Campus Intensives. So with on campus Intensives so this.

When we have students coming to campus to perform those skills and to test out those skills currently.

We we do that in advanced health assessments where you where you you, you perform.

A, a clinical, the objective structured clinical examinations and we do that in adult one, in adult 2IN adult three and.

So basically once you start your clinical every semester, you will have the opportunity to come to campus to to have those hands on clinical experience.

Currently we hold these for two days. Everyone will know ahead of time when those days are, but usually.

In the 4th semester we do that in November.

Early November, you usually within the first two weeks of November and and in the.

In the spring semester, we do that around.

April, early April and with plans moving forward with this summer, we will be doing that in in July for the summer sessions.

And during our ask is basically a some of the things we've asked is basically.

You have a. You have a a a life model where where you will practice the actors who will give you the opportunity to practice on them while you are being observed by.

Our faculty.

And we also incorporate.

The Suturing and Wound Closure workshop.

The students really love this workshop.

Typically this is something you would get when you go to conference as as MPs you would be able to participate in these workshops and we've been doing them here for our last semester students and they they love it and and we love doing it. You can see there are there are pigs a pig's feet that are used for for stuttering and and yes this is really a a wonderful opportunity and.

There are all the opportunities we are exploring.

For when student comes to campus, so we have a a number of workshops with people who are specialists in their fields to come in to show you what it looks like to be in your practitioner and we are really really proud of of what have been done and also workshops on.

On DNP projects for those who will be doing their DNP, we will be incorporating all of these into our intensives.

So, again, so with the the DNP project initiatives.

We have a 27 credits. OK, the 27 credits.

For the.

For the postmasters ADNP's OK so the project, the project may take place at any APR and primary care work setting or any clinics. So basically.

Where you work, OK, so where you work?

These similar types of a practice site could be used for your for your DNP project doctor Pardon. Just put a clarification note there for me. So the intensives are not for the the postmasters DNP students. So the the 27 credits are just for the DNP students, they are DNP level.

Credits and those who are in the DNP will will need to do them and those who are doing the postmasters DNP will need to do the the NPA project courses. But the intensives are strictly for the MSN students. Thank you doctor pardon for for this note.

So those who've had their their MSN degree.

Will receive a 500 credits towards their DNP hours because the total hours required to earn ADNP is a 1000 hours. So if you had a a master's degree in nursing so and being a practitioner so most likely.

You've completed those 500 clinical hours, so you will get credit for 500 clinical hours and then.

During the the NP Clinical the DNP track you will earn the order 500.

Hours.

So for those.

Who have completed some hours already or those who have completed their BSN degrees or those who are coming into the the MSN or Postmaster certificate program, we do what we call a gap analysis and with the gap analysis.

We evaluate the courses you've already taken and to decide on on which one we can give you credits for. Again, it's.

It's a very individualized approach based on the, the the program you went to, based on the number of credits you you've you've completed and based on the assessment of the.

It costs curriculum, we decide on whether you've already earned the credits or not. So we have no intention of making you repeat courses you've already completed. And and so far we've been very successful with our, with our students have been pretty satisfied with with the way we conduct this analysis. So while Stockton, there are so many universities out there.

Why should you choose starter?

Well.

We offer small class sizes so we know everyone of our students individually and that relationship is really priceless. And we offer a a cohort model where you have your peers, you work with your peers and and move from point A to point B. Well, there are times when there might be a student who stay behind for whatever reason.

And again who might drop from one court staying, staying behind with another cohort that happens, life happens but but typically you would start with your with your group and continue with your group and he has started, we are very competitive tuition cost compared to a lot of other programs in New Jersey.

OK, so and the Unix specialization.

Of working with diverse individuals.

A families and community. That's something you don't find everywhere, OK? And.

Besides that, we support our students.

To to get clinical sites for their clinical placements. OK, so now we are not telling students that we find them clinical side, but we work with everyone in helping them to find clinical sites. So if you cannot find a clinical site, you will never be left alone telling you, well if you can't find a clinical site, you're not going to be in clinical.

No. So we have been successful in in in helping students find clinical sites and we have a number of clinical partners who are really dedicated to to helping our students that this is, this is something we are very proud of and we are very unique.

In that sense you are not alone in trying to find clinical sites and we have a very supportive and it seemed a faculty very well vested in their in their fields.

To support and mentor you.

And of course we offer the 24 month option and the 33 months option for those who want to to move faster.

With their with their program and the on campus intensive once a semester.

Really add a lot of values to our program and spend, especially for those who who live far. OK, we have students who.

Who live in in Northern New Jersey who attend our program and our program is actually open for students out of states as long as you you meet the.

The requirements which will include.

Having a nursing license in the state of New Jersey, but really you you will be able to come to campus during that time for for those two days.

To to mango with with your peers and and and faculty.

The other thing is that they complain in the DNP involves.

33 semesters OK, so the DNP project so the DNP projects OK, so you have 3 semesters to complete your DNP project so.

We will work with you very closely to to come up with a project and and to guide you through until until you you defend your your project and and and and and receive your DNP degree.

And of course we talked about the online synchronous and its encoding classes that you can attend class right right where you are in your pajamas and to to just be be in class.

The other thing is that we are a a a very pleased with with our success rate, OK. So we have a 100% pass rate that we are very proud of and so, so all our graduates have been able to to to pass the certification exams and have been able to go ahead and and get a job and becoming.

Successful nurse practitioner practitioners.

So we are really, really proud of our program.

We will take questions towards the end. So now I will bring Jen back to to talk about the admission requirements.

Awesome. Thank you so, so much. So this is where we tag team for this program. The program chairs are the experts, the content experts, and here in graduate admissions, we assist in the application process and in getting you to these faculty members. So we're going to just take a moment and talk about what the actual application process looks like. So as you can see here, the admission requirements are posted and those are also found on our website. So you don't need to take feverish notes. This is just a point of reference for us to talk through. But you can see all this on our admissions criteria tab on our website.

But if you are a recent graduate of the BSM or MSN program, you may qualify for our direct entry option. This is a separate application and again, this is on our website. You can look at the criteria. There's a specific GPA requirement as well as some course requirements. And if you were a part of the nursing program, the really the big thing is to look at is the.

The GPA. More than likely you have the course requirements. If you did the BSN program, there's an application fee for. For our traditional application, the Direct Entry application does allow you to submit less content, material you don't need letters of recommendation. There's no application fee, but we do ask that you meet those requirements before completing that application.

So for the traditional, again, $50 application fee, which gets your application started, there is an essay that populates after you start or after you submit the fee. So you'll be able to see those essays once you get in there and and that application fee activates, you'll also need to submit to us proof of your license to practice. That's important so that we can see that you're eligible for the program and also your CPR certification is required for you to load.

We recommend loading those as APDF file. That's the way the system likes it best, and so that's really important. Next you'll be you'll have two letters of recommendation, so really you're looking for two recommenders. You don't have to actually submit the letter of recommendation, just simply the e-mail address for your recommenders.

We also suggest that you reach out to your recommenders ahead of time before doing that, because once you put their name and e-mail address in, they automatically get an e-mail, and so it's good for them to know that it's forthcoming and to make sure that it gets to them.

Let them know the deadline that you're looking at for your program too. That's always really helpful and a good protocol. Next you'll be loading your resume or your CV, and again, that should be in APDF format as well.

Now lastly, we will need official transcripts from any institution that you attended. So if you had an associate's degree, bachelor's degree, any college level courses that you took, if you have another master's degree, any other graduate coursework, all transcripts have to be sent to us.

And we do have to receive the official transcripts. Unless you're from, unless you're from Stockton, in which case we can pull that material for you upon your request. But if any other institution that needs to come to us from that institution, we can receive paper copies of a signed, sealed envelope. However, it's really preferable to have everything sent electronically these days.

Yep.

What?

No, thank you so much. Can you hear me now? OK. Awesome. Thank you for letting me know. I appreciate that. So again, official transcripts need to be sent from every institution that you attended and we really recommend having those official transcripts sent to us electronically. If you have Stockton transcripts, upon your request, we can pull those for you. But if you are sending transcripts from any other institution, e-mail is the quickest, easiest and safest way you can have those sent from.

Those institutions to grad school at Stockton Edu.

And that comes directly to us. You will want to make sure that e-mail address is put in and that it doesn't go to any other location. Sometimes it'll automatically send to our registrar's office or other offices on campus. So please make sure it does get sent to graduate admissions specifically.

Next, some prerequisites just to look at again, a baccalaureate degree, Baccalaureate nursing degree is required for the programs that we've been discussing from an accredited, accredited institution. You also must meet one of the two requirements, a cumulative GPA of a 3.2 or higher on a scale of 4.0 with a minimum grade of B and all of the nursing courses specifically, or a cumulative GPA of a 3.3 and at least two graduate nursing courses.

If the BSN GPA is less or equal to a 3.19, so that's really important.

Again, completion of undergraduate courses listed as follows as health assessment, nursing, research or in something in the health discipline and statistics. Again, if you have your BSM completed this really these prerequisites are are pretty easy to come by. And then again proof of licensure is required for the program as well.

So for the process, you'll notice there are a number of priority deadlines. We will review sometimes after those deadlines, but in order to be.

Looked at for any kind of scholarship or for priority course registration. These are the deadlines we'd really like to hold to because it allows you to be set up for success academically. So you'll notice that priority deadlines for MSN and post BSND and P for a summer start for the 24 month option is April 1st. For false start in the 33 month option it is July 1st.

And then priority deadlines for MSN and certificate programs for summer start April 1st, fall start July 1st and then Spring start is October 1st. Lastly, priority deadlines for MSNDMP. For a false start option, it would be July 1st again and 1st Spring start December 1st and again. These are just to make sure that your set up name's success and to provide you with the best opportunities possible within the program.

We also recommend that all those these are our deadline priority deadlines. It does take a little bit to get all of your letters of recommendation in to get your transcript sent to upload all the materials, so give yourself a few weeks prior to all of those deadlines. If you're looking at these programs, don't wait till the last minute and stress out about it. You want to have plenty of time to get those all in and we're more than happy to help you. If you have any questions as you're loading mirror materials to help you, do so and we'll give you our contact information at the end.

All right.

Laredome, return things back over to you for the last few.

Thank you so much.

Great. Thank you so much. So, yeah, so we are very proud of of our graduate as we said. So here you can see this.

These are the MSN graduates and and the NP graduates. So everyone has a job, everyone is working. So, so far here in New Jersey this has not been an issue for our graduates and and one other thing we are very proud of is the fact that is the feedback we received from from some of our clinical partners.

Regarding the difference our program makes when compelling our graduates with other programs.

I'll graduate always a issue past the the, the, the mark, so.

While we work with, we work with students very diligently.

And in supporting them, you know, sometimes it's it's not.

How do you say that it's not? I mean, sometimes it's not.

I.

Such an easy experience. I have to tell you that because our program is, is, is.

We we are strict and flexible at the same time. OK to be friends with you we are we are a very flexible and at the same time we set this standard really high and and but so far our students have been able to to to get through and and because of that.

They have been able to to successfully enter into practice as DNP prepared.

MPs or MSN prepared MPs and we have a 100% employment rate.

One other thing that Doctor Patrick want me to clarify is that.

The three DNP project courses and the four accordion precursors. OK, so you have 5 semesters to for the post. MSNDMP OK, 55 semesters in tour. So basically the two DMP courses can be taken at the MSN level for the post.

Students. So, again, so we work really closely with you to get you in, Get you out. OK, so.

We are here to answer any questions you you might have and I believe Jay and I'll pass it back to you.

Awesome. Thank you so much. All right. So we do want to give you all the time to ask any additional questions you have in the chat. So please feel free to type your questions there and we will be happy to answer those. I'm going to go ahead and share while we're waiting for that, our contact information. So if you are watching this recorded, you can go ahead and feel free to reach out to us with any additional questions you have whether it's about the program specifically or if it is about the application process we're we're here to assist you.

Again, if you have questions live, we do have a few moments to take those questions too.

Mary, are there any other items you wanted to add? I know you've shared a lot in the chat. Thank you so much. That's really helpful. Any other tidbits that you want to share with everyone?

Sudden.

Yes, enough for current AP.

If you are unwelly on APN and you want to to do the the postmaster certificate, it will be based on the number of clinical hours you need. If you are a an adult JONP and you want to to do the the FNP Postmaster certificate you will need only 200 hours that last course 200 hours of clinicals but.

If you are a an NP and want to come for, come back for your postmaster's DNP.

About 500 hours.

That's correct, Doctor Patton. Thank you.

I would also add to that a really good opportunity is with this program for our for all of our graduate programs because this is still considered an in person program because of the intensive the courses are online. You still as a student in the program have the ability to access all the student services on campus. So everything that an undergraduate student utilizes you can utilize as well everything from our Wellness and health services to activities that go on on campus performances.

You name it, library, everything else. You can participate in all of those on campus things as well, even though your coursework is all online. So when you're here for your intensive, you know you can participate in things on campus or you know during during the rest of the semester too. And I think that's a really great added benefit that we always don't highlight and and it should be noted, you know, as part of that question too. So thanks for asking that. That was great.

M.

Yes, great point. Thank you. That's fantastic.

All right. I don't see any other additional questions. So I think that brings us to the end of our presentation. Doctor Padden Denmade, Dr. Ruffin, thank you so much for being here today and sharing your wealth of knowledge and sharing your passion for this program. I know you put a lot into it. You care so very much about your students and and that shows. And I hope that you all as our participants in this information session really see that as well.

Mm-hmm.

Yes, the the page is is Graduate nursing at at the Stockton Graduate Nursing, Stockton Graduate Nursing.

Great. We also posted some photos to the graduate admissions page. So if you'd like to follow us on social media, graduate Admissions has both Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. And you can see some photos there and some highlights from all of our programs, including the MSN and DMP programs too. So thank you for mentioning that. It's a wonderful program, our graduate symposium last night.

Just just a clarification, it's gradually stopped on nursing, not there's no graduate Stockton nursing, OK. So you will be able to see everything the nursing program has to offer.

Perfect. Awesome. Thank you so, so much. All right, Thank you all again for joining us. And again, if you have questions, you can see our contact info there or just type in grad admissions and we hope you all have a wonderful day. Take care everyone. Bye. Bye.