SIGNATURE CURRICULUM
We produce world class nurses for the military. We have crafted our curriculum and teaching–learning practices to ensure all graduates meet the needs and expectations of the Federal Nursing Service Council, the Military Health System, patients, students, alumni, their employers, and our faculty. Students evaluate real-time problems in MTFs across the country, are taught by award-winning faculty, and apply concepts learned in the classroom to battlefield scenarios in various field exercises.
Our Signature Curriculum contains three primary focus areas (Operational Readiness in Changing Environments, Clinical Decision Making in the Federal Health Care Delivery System, and Global, Environmental, Cultural and Political Context) and five sub-themes (Evidenced-Based Practice and Research, Leadership and Health Policy, Transition of Technology to Practice and Education, Health Promotion for Warriors and Families, and Patient Safety) that, together, distinguish our curriculum from that of other schools of nursing. Covering topics such as patient safety in austere environments, ethics in host nations, federal health care policy development, interdisciplinary collaborative practice, families across the life span, and many more, our graduates are well equipped to handle any problem in any environment.
UNIQUE
- Military unique content
- Operational Curriculum
- Military sexual assault for providers (NPs)
- Primary care for the military member (FNPs)
- Battlefield auricular acupuncture
- Bedside ultrasound
- Cognitive processing and exposure therapy (PMH)
- Reflective practice curriculum
- 1,700+ hours direct patient care
INTERPROFESSIONAL
- Learn with, from, & about other professions
- Inter-professional
- Faculty, Student interaction, Courses
- Competencies
- MSA
- Reflective Practice
- PhD Courses
- Clinical Psychology
- Bushmaster
- Evolving Curriculum
PARTNERSHIPS & PROJECTS
- TBI
- Education for Spouses
- Use of Practice Guidelines for mTBI
- Military Sexual Assault
- Patient Centered Medical Home
- Army Body Composition Program
- LGBT Education for Providers
- Unintended Pregnancy Prevention
- Sleep Hygiene / Sleep Medicine
OPERATIONAL CURRICULUM
We are focused on answering the advanced nursing needs of the military and the PHS, and operational readiness is integrated into each degree program we offer. In addition to standard graduate nursing curriculum, our students are involved in austere environment electives, research focused on military health care, and more. The emphasis we place on work in the field above and beyond those of other graduate nursing programs prepares our students to hit the ground running upon graduation.
The PhD degree incorporates Operational Readiness by providing early and consistent immersion in established military research programs and in tri-service collaborations focused on advancing science in military and federal health care.
Operational Readiness is integrated across the APRN concentrations with curriculum that includes: Core Competencies for all practitioners, Specialty Competencies to meet the unique demands of practice, and Operational Electives developed to challenge students in authentic operational scenarios.
CORE COMPETENCIES
All APRNs who graduate from the GSN will have a common Core of operational skills designed to provide them with the advanced set of skills required of all specialty concentrations. All students will become familiar with skills such as Tactical Combat Casualty Care, Advanced Trauma Life Support, Battlefield Acupuncture, Battlefield Stress Management, and the Principles of Health Service Support.
- Antietam
- Battlefield Auricular Acupuncture
- Battlefield Stress Course
- Military Advanced Trauma Life Support
- Tactical Combat Casualty Care
SPECIALTY COMPETENCIES
Building on the foundation of the Core operational skills, each APRN concentration has a unique operational curriculum designed to support the operational skills required for the Specialty APRN practice.
PMHNP
- Military Sexual Assault
- Operational Readiness for Advance Psychiatric Practice
- Military Contingency Medicine Didactic
- Bushmaster Exercise
FNP/WHNP
- Military Sexual Assault
- Primary Care of the Military Member
- Military Contingency Medicine Didactic
- Bushmaster Exercise
AGCNS
- Joint Trauma System (JTS)
- Combat Casualty Care Web-Based Conferences
- Operational Trauma Clinical
- Trauma Management in CNS Practice
- Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN)
- Austere Surgical Team (AST) Didactic Curriculum
- Austere Surgical Team (AST) Exercise
RNA
- Trauma Anesthesia Clinical
- Operational Anesthesia Curriculum
- Gunpowder Didactic Curriculum
- Gunpowder Exercise
OPERATIONAL COURSES
A variety of Operational Experience Electives are available that provide APRN students with opportunities to reinforce operational skills outside of traditional healthcare models. Students learn the unique physical and emotional requirements needed to provide care, how to identify environmental health concerns, the physiologic and pathological implications for patients seriously injured, and how to apply healthcare interventions within a generally particular austere setting. Students also learn the interprofessional skills required to successfully integrate a healthcare team within an operational unit.
- Dive Medicine Course
- Military Mountain Medicine Course (M3C)
- Cold Weather Medicine & Avalanche Course
- Austere Clinical Experiences (Lanai, Rwanda, Samoa)
- US Navy Hospital Ships: Comfort and Mercy Exercises/Deployment
- Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT)
- Transitions of Care
- Medical Management of Chemical and Biological Casualties (MMCBC)
- Military Humanitarian and Civic Assistance
"The diversity at USU is also very notable. I have lived on or around Army bases my whole life, to include my 8 years of service, but I have never lived or worked with any of the other services. USU provides me an environment to learn from my Air Force and Navy peers, as well as the opportunity to train at different service bases. Among the students, there is a diverse range of age, time in service, source of commissioning, and ethnicities."