YSN launches innovative new master's specialty in Nursing Management, Policy & Leadership
New Haven, CT — March 16, 2005
YSN is proud to announce the launching of a new specialty in NursingManagement, Policy and Leadership in January, 2006. The goal of the specialty is to prepare nurses who are able to utilize the concepts, knowledge, and skills of management, organizational development, and policy for positions of leadership in health care delivery systems and related settings. "The program is based on the belief that management and policy are the important determinants of the operations of health care systems and that change in such operations has become a national priority for the improvement of quality and patient safety," said Dr. Sally Cohen, who will direct the program. "Further, we believe there is a distinct body of specialized knowledge that provides the framework for leadership and decision-making," she said.
The focus of the program is on the graduate education of registered nurses through innovative modalities that take into account their work demands. The program will rely heavily on intensive-mode/week-end classes and web-based instruction. Full and part-time study will be available. Graduates of the specialty will be prepared to assume leadership and managerial positions in health care delivery systems, government, and other private and public settings. The specialty will have a unifying theme of patient safety and other aspects of quality of care.
Dr. Cohen identified the rationale for the program: "Health care organizations need individuals who possess high-level conceptual skills," she said. "Government and other nonprofit organizations need individuals who build on knowledge of clinical practice to formulate, implement, and evaluate programs and policies with the potential to improve quality of care. Mastery of these advanced conceptual skills is necessary to articulate the problems, solutions, goals and strategies that enhance the delivery of health care and health policymaking."
The core faculty of YSN's Center for Health Policy and Ethics will lead the initiative with input from other YSN and Yale University faculty. The curriculum will include courses in health policy, leadership, evidence-based practice and management, ethics, program and policy implementation and evaluation, organizational theory, quality improvement and patient safety, role development, human resource management, statistics, ethnic diversity and cultural competency, financial management and budgeting, and evaluation. A wide range of quality and safety practica as well as extensive opportunities for administrative and policy internships are built in to the program.
The photograph above features the core faculty of YSN's Center for Health Policy and Ethics who will lead the initiative new program:
Top row, left to right: Betty Nelson - Assistant Professor, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs Judith Krauss - Professor
Bottom row, left to right: Katherine Jones - Acting Dean and Professor Sally Cohen - Associate Professor, Director of the Center for Health Policy and Ethics, and Specialty Director of Nursing Management, Policy and Leadership Douglas Olsen - Associate Professor
For more information about this program and application materials, please contact:
Sally Cohen, PhD, RN, FAAN Associate Professor, Director of the Center for Health Policy and Ethics, and Specialty Director of Nursing Management, Policy and Leadership Tel: 203.737.2545 Email: sally.cohen@yale.edu
