LECOM Launches Online Master of Science in Nursing Program

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) proudly announces its Master of Science in Nursing Program, the first nursing program to be offered by the College. The first cohort of registered nurses (RNs) begins July 31, 2023.

The new Program is part of the LECOM Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the degree will provide graduates with a Clinical Nurse Leader National Board Certification.

This 16-course program is being offered exclusively online and students will earn 45 academic credit hours during four traditional semesters of full-time study.

Students can take courses at their own pace, earning 11-12 credit hours each semester, while attaining 500 clinical hours in three clinical practicums conducted during the course of study.

Graduate nursing students are encouraged to work with preceptors in their current place of employment and the scholars will be required to complete a Leadership Capstone Project. Each student will implement a project, present findings at a national nursing conference, and submit an article manuscript for publication prior to graduation.

Requirements for eligibility to apply include an unencumbered

Registered Nursing (RN)

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Continued from page 2 applicant is employed, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) was waived for the first cohort with all applications having been submitted by July 1, 2023.

Tuition for the Program is significantly discounted for LECOM clinical affiliates.

For more information about this new Program, including application requirements and tuition fees, please visit the LECOM website at: https://lecom.edu/gsbs/master-of-science-in-nursing-clinical-nurse-leader/

Questions and inquiries about the Program may be made to the Director of Nursing Graduate Programs, Dr. Octavia Flanagan at oflanagan@lecom.edu.

LECOM is delighted to add this purposeful Nursing Program to an ever increasing plethora of healthcare education offerings; all of which serve in the realm of community betterment and give a profound meaning to that service.

If one sits upon the sidelines, it is quite likely that one will never make the decisions that affect life.

With healthcare laws ever in the crosshairs, economic crisis spanning the globe, and families struggling as never before in recent decades, LECOM is reflecting upon its position as a leader in healthcare education to impart upon its alumni, administrators, and its present student body, an important message of involvement.

Edmund Burke admonished that “all that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” That aphorism is intended to impart upon the reader the reality that in the absence of action, governing bodies will effectuate decisions that will contravene the objectives of the majority. An understanding gained through acquiring information and increasing awareness is essential to a fully functioning society. Such a notion is equally true within the field of medicine.

Prodigious purpose in the arena of health care demands commitment and involvement; to become supremely aware of, and intimately involved in, the pivotal issues of this time; issues that affect family physicians, their practices, and their patients. There exist wide-ranging opportunities for physicians to become involved and to shape the future of medicine.

Issues that influence physicians and patients on a daily basis, particularly malpractice reform and access to care, are areas in which one may choose to become involved. Examination of the effect of current healthcare laws is another area that requires scrutiny.

To those who may contend that they lack the time to become involved in the efforts of organized medicine, LECOM hopes that they will consider devoting a more focused effort to make the time. If doctors fail to step up and to become involved, someone else is going to make those decisions in the place of the physician. It is likely, given the current environment, that it will be the government or governmental bodies carrying out those decisions. If that happens, the outcomes may not be beneficial for the medical community and certainly, they will not be beneficial for patient care.

LECOM asseverates that there are several ways in which physicians may become involved in medical action organizations:

Examine the objectives of the state and national Medical Society Political Action Committees and/or join an action committee;

Contact colleagues in the area who are involved in medical organizations and join a local medical society;

Advocate to local, state, and federal legislators about issues that affect practice, patients, and health care;

Focus upon not only improving patient care, but also upon improving population health and healthcare reform on a grander scale;

Carry an attitude of empowerment and enthusiasm as a force that unites good healthcare teams.

It can be said that vision in the absence of action constitutes nothing more than a wish and action in the absence of vision produces nothing more than chaos; therefore, well-defined objectives and thorough understanding of the needs of the profession are indispensable for the betterment of healthcare and for the benefit of the medical profession as a whole.

Dale Carnegie once said that, “we cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

Accordingly, leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and action. There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less incapacitating than the long-range risks and costs of apathy.

The medical community, in the present environment, faces an onslaught of change. It is incumbent upon its practitioners to remain aware, astute, and involved.

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The entire notion of purpose is based upon a keen awareness of the interdependence of humankind involved in one another. Goals and objectives find success or failure because of people who are willing to become involved to affect change. Only by attracting the very best people may great deeds be accomplished.

LECOM is confident in the quality of its people and of the resolute objectives of its alumni, administrators, and students alike. It is with energetic enthusiasm that LECOM hopes that each of those groups will – become involved.

2023 Lecom