Duquesne University School of Nursing offers several online graduate nursing programs, which includes two PhD nursing online programs. It also affords graduate students to complete all necessary nursing prerequisites courses online. Degrees may be complete with little or no on-campus attendance, utilizing the school’s state-of-the-art learning technologies and the Internet. When compared to on-campus courses, nursing courses taken online are identical in their objectives and rigor. Online students pay the same tuition as on-campus students; online course credits are structured no differently than the same course taken in a classroom. Whether a student chooses to take all nursing courses online or in combination with on-campus study, their diploma, certificate, or transcript will bear no distinction from that of a traditional Duquesne on-campus student. However, students are required to visit the campus once a year for a period of one week, which is usually the week prior to Thanksgiving.

All applicants to the online graduate nursing programs must have fulfilled the following nursing prerequisites prior to admissions:

Undergraduate statistics course or equivalent Undergraduate physical assessment course required for the Family Nurse Practitioner and Nursing Education programs Computer literacy (including the ability to send and download attachments) or completed courses in word processing, spreadsheet, database management and presentation graphics

Duquesne’s graduate distance learning allows students to complete their education with the flexibility that not all nursing schools offer, because virtually no on-campus classroom attendance is necessary. The only prerequisites to taking nursing courses online are basic computer skills including:

Send and receive email Attach, send and open documents from email or Internet sites Participate in online chats Research topics using the Web resources Use Internet library databases

How does it work? Students enrolled in the PhD nursing online programs, complete all their courses online. Course instructors use special Internet-based software for instruction, as well as post their lectures and reading assignments online. Student participate in the virtual classroom by using several formats including contributing to an online thread or message board, online chats, live virtual classroom meetings, and phone conference calls with other students and their instructor. The educational platform that Duquesne uses is the popular, Blackboard, a Course Management System (CMS) used widely among universities. In addition to learning, students can access their grades, course calendar, course descriptions, transcripts, student loan, or tuition status. Information about their instructor is also posted online, such as their educational background, areas of expertise, areas of research, other classes taught, office hours and location, phone contact, and email.

The two PhD nursing online programs that Duquesne offers is either a PhD, which focuses on research, or a DNP, which has a clinical focus. The student on the PhD track must complete the following nursing prerequisites courses online or on-campus:

Graduate course in Statistics (6 credits) Graduate course in Nursing Theory (3 credits) Graduate course in Nursing Research Methods (3 credits) Computer literacy or completed courses in word processing, spreadsheet, database management, and presentation graphics

The DNP track requires that applicants have completed only two nursing prerequisite courses online or on-campus prior to admission – either an undergraduate or graduate course in Statistics (3 credits) and a graduate course in Nursing Research Methods (3 credits).

The online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) currently offers three areas of specialization – Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), Forensic Nursing, and Nursing Education. Prior to beginning core course work and clinical requirements, students must complete 21 credits of FNP nursing prerequisites courses online. The maximum allotted time to finish the MSN program is six years. The MSN student pursuing a career in Nursing Education must complete 14 credits in nursing education in addition to coursework required by the MSN program including clinical core courses.

Whether you plan to apply to one of Duquesne’s PhD Nursing Online Programs or one of their other online master nursing programs, holding a degree from this prestigious university will be very impressive to future employers. Be sure to check the department’s website for updates to their program – including prerequisites.

By: Brenne Meirowitz

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Good health is never guaranteed, even if you’ve been healthy all your life. If you’re searching for an affordable major medical insurance plan, there are a few things you should look for before buying health insurance.

Major Medical Individual Health Insurance Plans

Some things to look for when shopping for health insurance are:

A noncancellable, guaranteed renewable coverage policy. Which mean, your policy can’t be cancelled as long as you stay current with your monthly payments and stay within policy guidelines. We’ve all heard stories about insurance companies cancelling a policy when someone becomes sick or injured. Look for a policy that is noncancellable and has a renewal guarantee. Know what your coverage is: I know this sounds simple, but health insurance plans can be quite a bit different from one another. It’s important to understand the level of coverage your plan offers. You should find out what options are available before deciding on which health plan to buy. Higher deductible choices: Many of the new individual health insurance plans now offer larger deductibles. A larger deductible can save you a lot of money in monthly premiums. If you are relatively healthy, a high deductible health plan along with a health savings account is a good plan to look at.
Individual Health Insurance Quotes

Now that almost all major insurance companies have made their medical plans available online, you can go shopping for health insurance any time, night or day, and find affordable individual health insurance that fits your needs.

By: Jim Westin

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Many people do not feel that they or their families need to have any kind of medical protection because it is simply too expensive. The fact is that cheap health insurance medical coverage can be found and it is important for every family to have it. Getting health insurance quotes is the best way to start the coverage for the entire family.

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That is not to say that there will not be co-pays and deductibles that must be paid at the time of service, it just means that these out of pocket expenses will be much less. Cheap health insurance medical policies can be designed to make these co-pays as much or as little as the purchaser desires. The more one pays out of pocket, the less the insurance will cost.

So why does one need to have cheap health insurance medical coverage? To put it simply, it is cheaper to pay now than it would be to pay later in an emergency. An insurance policy can be viewed as a savings account for health care any time it is needed.

By: Carl Barton

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