RN-MSN admission practices and curricula in the mid-Atlantic region

Nurse educators are increasingly sensitive to the differences in learning needs of adult students in comparison to the traditional generic student and to the demand for advanced practice nurses. For these reasons, the number and type of accelerated programs has increased. There is very little in the literature related to RN-MSN programs. To determine the state of RN-MSN education, a descriptive exploratory study was conducted to examine admission and curricular requirements for RN-MSN nursing programs in the mid-Atlantic region. The findings reveal a wide variety of educational practices. Over 74 percent of responding programs indicated that challenge exams are used to accelerate students' progress; 59 percent reported participating in statewide articulation agreements. Credit requirements for core and major courses were found to vary dramatically, as do credits required to earn the BSN-MSN credential; the average number of credits for program completion was 127. GPA requirements for admission ranged from 2.5 to 3.5. Findings from this study can assist existing programs to assess their comparability and help developing programs understand emerging patterns in RN-MSN education.