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Nursing and Health Systems Management

What is the Nursing and Health Systems Management Specialty?

Click here to learn more about this specialty and its sub-specialities of Nurse Administration and Public Health from Dr. Laureen Smith.

Advanced nursing practice

The Master of Science specialty track for Nursing and Health Systems Management prepares graduates for many challenging career opportunities. Graduates meet the demands for today’s health care workforce in hospitals, clinics, public health departments, and other community based settings. This specialty includes two sub-specialties: Public Health Nursing and Nursing Administration.

Coursework, field experience, and research allow our students to acquire the knowledge, values, and skills necessary for certification by the American Nurses' Credentialing Center (ANCC) in the areas of advanced practice Community Health or advanced practice Nursing Administration. This program meets the curriculum guidelines set out by Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE) for Public Health Nursing and the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) for Nursing Administration.

At the heart of this specialty track are active, collaborative relationships between nurses in leadership positions in public health departments, community-based agencies, or hospitals, including The Ohio State University Medical Center’s teaching hospitals, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Grant Hospital for the Nursing Administration track and the Ohio Department of Health, Columbus Health Department, Delaware City-County Health Department, and Lifecare Alliance for the Public Health Nursing track.

Core Nursing and Health System Management faculty

Laureen Smith, PhD, Director
Pamela Salsberry, PhD
Jodi Ford, PhD, RN

Essential skills

Graduates enter the workforce with the skills and competencies in Public Health Nursing to:

  • Assess communities and diagnose community health problems
  • Monitor the health status of the total community
  • Inform, educate, and empower populations at risk
  • Mobilize community partnerships
  • Participate and influence health policy, including an understanding in ways to enforce laws and regulations that protect health
  • Link people to service
  • Ensure a competent public health workforce
  • Evaluate health services and health care
  • Complete research to into innovative solutions to public health problems


Graduates enter the workforce with the skills and competencies in Nursing Administration to:

  • Develop and articulate a vision for nursing practice in an organization
  • Employ management skills that facilitate collaborative relationships
  • Select and use advanced analytic, problem solving, and communication skills
  • Make sound decisions that value effectiveness and parsimony in use of resources
  • Think globally using information and communication technology
  • Assume risk-taking behavior for the purpose of enhancing quality health care
  • Advocate for consumers and community partners; demonstrate creativity in problem definitions and solutions
  • Foster and implement team-building strategies that create partnerships
  • Embrace change and manage it effectively; negotiate and resolve conflict
  • Establish relationships with community groups around the issue of health
  • Evaluate health care programs

Core curriculum

Courses for the Nursing and Health Systems Management specialty

  • Nursing 7400              Leadership in Advanced Nursing
  • Nursing 7440              Scientific Thought in Nursing
  • Nursing 7490              Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
  • Nursing 7480              Quality Improvement in Advanced Nursing Care
  • Nursing 7500              Nursing in the American Health Care System
  • Nursing 7520              Graduate Nursing Informatics
  • Nursing 7780              Evidence Based Nursing Scholarship

 Courses common to both sub-specialties

  • Nursing 7258.01         Foundational Knowledge for Nursing and Health Systems Management
  • Nursing 7258.02         Skills for Nursing and Health Systems Management 

Courses unique to Public Health Nursing sub-specialty

  • Public Health 6410
  • Nursing 7450              Pathophysiology of Altered Health States

Download PDF> Sample curriculum

Courses unique to Nursing Administration sub-specialty

Operations Management
Human Resources
Employment Law

Download PDF> Sample curriculum

Admissions & program information

Traditional Master of Science option

Graduate Entry option

Post-Master’s option

Applicants must apply directly to the College of Nursing for admission to the Post-Masters option. For further information about the post-master's option, click here

For further information about the Nursing and Health Systems Mangement, contact:

The Ohio State University
College of Nursing
Graduate Outreach and Admissions
1585 Neil Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1289

Call (614) 688-8145
E-mail nursing@osu.edu

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