BSN Required Activities
BSN Preceptor Requirements
BSN Site Requirements
Course Requirements
NURS 4300/4301: BSN Capstone
The Capstone course provides students an opportunity to apply previously learned knowledge and skills with their baccalaureate education in the identification and implementation of a scholarly nursing project. Students will complete 100 hours in a practice setting and develop an evidence-based, patient-centered nursing project focused on a health care environment. This course will culminate with a presentation of their project to peers and others in the practice and academic community.
Course Outcomes
- Analyze practice problems to improve patient or population health outcomes.
- Demonstrate effective communication skills in a manner that facilitates a partnership approach to quality care delivery.
- Use leadership skills to develop a quality and safety or population health evidence-based project to improve healthcare outcomes.
- Utilize information systems to support evidence-based decision-making and disseminate information to improve health care delivery.
- Apply quality and safety or population health data to propose a change plan to improve health care outcomes in an organization or population.
- Evaluate strategies for improving health equity and cost in population health or quality and safety to promote positive social change within healthcare.
- Collaborate with health professionals to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate an improvement in practice related to quality and safety or population health.
Purpose of Practicum
Capstone is the culminating practicum course in the RN to BSN program. Students have an opportunity to apply previously learned knowledge and skills. Students will collaborate with their preceptors to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate an improvement in practice through implementing a practice change plan.
This course is formatted in five modules where students interact with preceptors throughout the course.
Module 1: Students focus on Interprofessional Communication. In this assessment, students complete an interview to develop interprofessional skills. In addition, they use the 5 Whys to analyze an issue.
Module 2: Students Evaluate data and evidence-based research to plan practice change.
Module 3: Apply leadership strategies in the collaboration process to develop a practice change to improve health outcomes.
Module 4: Implement practice change to improve healthcare outcomes.
Module 5: Evaluate practice change to improve healthcare outcomes.
Appropriate Preceptor
Preceptors must be a BSN prepared nurse with an unincumbered license. Examples include chief nursing officer, director of nursing, nurse managers, quality improvement nurses, nurse managers of a patient care unit, manager of quality improvement, nursing educators, infection prevention nurses, charge nurses, public health nurses, school nurses, diabetes nurse educators, nutritional nurse, wound care nurse, etc.