Louisiana Master of Science in Nursing Programs
Business is booming in Louisiana for advanced practice nurses. A 2012 report by the Louisiana Board of Nursing (LSBN) showed that over the past several years, the number of students enrolled in Advanced Practice Registered Nursing (APRN) programs in the state has risen significantly. This is great news for the state’s residents, as Master’s prepared nurses can help bridge the provider gap in the state, improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
The Louisiana Action Coalition is also working actively to remove scope-of-practice barriers, so advanced practice registered nurses will be able to practice to the full extent of their education and training. This active group of nurses has received a $3 million initiative from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to participate in a program designed to help states prepare their nurses to address our nation’s most pressing healthcare challenges, which is access, quality and cost.
This is a very exciting time for an RN to further their education and enroll in graduate MSN program. We have listed all the nursing schools in Louisiana that offer programs for you to earn your MSN. You can request program information directly from our site, and get started on your Master’s in Nursing as soon as possible, enhancing your career and the health of your state.
Master’s in Nursing Programs in Louisiana
There are several Master’s degree in nursing programs in Louisiana. Southeastern Louisiana University is one part of a consortium of four universities that work collaboratively in order to provide a comprehensive curriculum that allows students to participate in a number of excellent opportunities in the healthcare profession. The theory-based courses are taught online and allow the flexibility that is important if you are a student that has a family or if you are working. The other colleges involved in this program are McNeese State University, in Lake Charles, Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Southeastern, in Hammond and Baton Rouge.
There are four MSN concentrations available from these nursing schools in Louisiana:
- Family Nurse Practitioner
- Family Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
- Nurse Executive
- Nurse Educator
If you wish to apply to any of these Master’s in Nursing programs, you must complete an online application and submit all the required material to Southeastern at Hammond, Louisiana.
They require:
- All official college transcripts
- Official GRE scores
- A completed MSN Student Information Form, a curriculum vita, which includes the applicant’s name, address, degrees held, academic preparations, awards, special interests, work history and relevant information
- Evidence of a valid, unencumbered Louisiana Registered Nurse license – License Verification
- Statement of purpose explaining goals and pursuing graduate degree in nursing, potential contributions to the master’s program at Southeastern and plans for nursing practice upon graduation
- Two letters of recommendation from individuals who can attest to the applicant’s commitment for study at the master’s level and their potential for academic success. One letter should be from a former faculty and the other from a nursing supervisor
The Family Nurse Practicum Program requires 40-43 credit hours and 720 clinical hours. The curriculum includes the following courses:
- Theoretical Foundations of Advance Nursing
- Issues in Advance Nursing Practice
- Pathophysiology for Advance Nursing Practice
- Generating Evidence for Nursing Practice
- Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Practicum
- Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning for Advance Nursing
- Pharmacotherapeutics takes for Advanced Practice Nursing
- Population Base Primary Care
- Advance Practice Nursing: Family Health I & II
- Focus Scholarly Project or Thesis
This is a well-established graduate program with a record of excellence, and their pass rate for national certification of graduates is consistently over 90 percent.
Louisiana State University, in New Orleans, has several nursing graduate programs also, and they include:
- Clinical Nurse Specialist
- Nurse Anesthesia
- Nurse Practitioner
- Nursing Administration
- Nurse Educator
- Public/Community Health Nursing
You may attend full-time or part-time. The Nurse Anesthesia program consists of 143 credit hours. This is a 36 month course of continuous study.
The Nurse Practitioner Program at this University has the option of focusing on Public Health Nursing, Primary Care Nursing or Neonatal Nursing. These nurses are highly skilled advance practice nurses who are trained to manage the care of patients and families across the lifespan in the community or in healthcare settings.
Working With Your MSN in Louisiana
Upon graduation you are eligible to take the credentialing examination given by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Graduation from this University and passing the credential test may give you the education you need to secure professional satisfaction and a respectable salary.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Louisiana Family Nurse Practitioners earn an annual mean income of $96,460 and nurse midwives earn $92,230 annually. A Nurse anesthetist’s average annual income is $154,390.
There is a great initiative called the Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program, which requires graduate nurses to work for two years in one of their nonprofit hospitals or other facilities and pays off 60 percent of their unpaid nursing student loans. You may want to take advantage of this program to help reduce your debt.
Louisiana has a nursing shortage, and it is particularly serious in the field of nurse education. You can be confident that with your graduate nursing degree you can increase your chances of finding a satisfying job, with a respectable income.
Nurses are also choosing administration roles in significant numbers, as more than 200 students were enrolled in admin programs in 2012, according to the LSBN. Like the rest of the nation, nurse educators are in high demand. Almost 80 percent of nurses teaching in pre-RN programs have an MSN. Only about five percent of MSN candidates have chosen education tracks in recent years, and pre-RN nurse educators earn about $50,000/year. For more information, check out the Louisiana Board of Education, Louisiana State Nurses Association, and the Louisiana Association of Nurse Practitioners.
You can request information about master’s in nursing programs in Louisiana directly from our site to learn more about your options.
Programs to consider:
- Louisiana State University-Health Sciences Center (New Orleans, LA). LSU has a number of MSN programs to choose from including advanced practice specialties, administration, education, and public health.
- The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Lafayette, LA). Among UL’s MSN programs are nursing education, executive leadership, and mental health and family practice NP.
