PHILOSOPHY AND OBJECTIVES

Section - I

PHILOSOPHY:

       The Nursing Faculty of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore presents the following statement of beliefs about Master of Science in Nursing (M. Sc. Nursing) programme
       The Master of Science in nursing programme is offered by institutions of higher education and is built upon the Bachelor’s curriculum in Nursing, recognized by Indian Nursing Council.
       The programme prepares nurses for leadership position in nursing and health fields who can function as specialist nurse practitioners, consultants, educationists, administrators and investigators for a wide variety of professional setting in meeting the national priorities and the changing needs of the society.
       The programme prepares nursing graduates who are professionally equipped, creative, self directed and socially motivated to effectively deal with day-to-day problems within the existing constraints and act as an agent of social change.
       Further the programme encourages accountability and commitment to life long learning which fosters improvement of quality care.

OBJECTIVES:

GRADUATES OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN NURSING PROGRAMME DEMONSTRATE:

1. Increased cognitive, affective and psychomotor competencies and the ability to utilize the potentialities for     efficient nursing performance.
2. Expertise in the utilization of concepts and theories for the assessment, planning and intervention in meeting the     self-care needs of an individual for the attainment of his/her fullest potential in her/his field of specialty.
3. Ability to practice independently as a nurse specialist.
4. Ability to function effectively as educators and administrators.
5. Ability to interpret health related research and develop initial competencies in conducting research.
6. Ability to plan and initiate change in the health care system, in practice and in the delivery of health care.
7. Leadership qualities for the advancement of the practice of professional nursing
8. Ability to establish collaborative relationship with members of other disciplines for maintaining and improving     health care.
9. Interest in life long learning for personal and professional advancement.

Section II
                                                                REGULATIONS

1. ELIGIBILITY
A Candidate seeking admission shall have:
    i)   Passed B.Sc.Nursing (Basic) or Post Basic B.Sc.Nursing degree or Post Certificate B.Sc. Nursing of Rajiv         Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka (RGUS), or any other university accepted as equivalent by         Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka.
    ii) Minimum of two years of experience after obtaining B.Sc. Nursing (Basic), in a hospital or in Nursing         educational institution or in community health setting. For candidates with Post Basic B.Sc. in Nursing degree         no such experience is needed after graduation.
    iii) Registered in State Nursing Council as a Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife.

2. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF CANDIDATES
The Selection shall be based on merit judged on the basis of aggregate of marks obtained in the university examination from first year to final year B.Sc. (Basic) Nursing or Post Basic B.Sc. in Nursing and marks obtained in the selection test.

3. BRANCHES / SPECIALTY.
Candidates may choose any one of the branches of study at the time of admission:

No change of branch of study shall be permitted after a candidate joins the course

4. DURATION
The course of study shall be for two academic years.

5. COURSE OF STUDY
    In the M. Sc I year, the following four subjects shall be common to all candidates irrespective of the subject     specialty chosen:

    1)     Advanced Concepts of Health and Nursing
    2)     Biological and Psychosocial Foundations of Nursing.
    3)     Education and Nursing Education.
    4)     Bio-statistics, Research methodology and Nursing Research.

These four subjects will be called as common Subjects.

Nursing specialty – shall be the subject specialty chosen by the candidate from amongst the five branches mentioned above in sl number 3 (branches /specialty).
In the M .Sc. II year, the subject “Administration and Nursing Administration” shall be common to all candidates irrespective of the subject specialty chosen.
Nursing specialty – II shall be the branch of specialty chosen by the candidate

Table 1: Partilculars of Subjects and Distribution of Theory and Practical teaching hours

6. ATTENDANCE
i.     A candidate pursuing M Sc. Nursing course shall study in the concerned department of the institution
       for the entire period as a full time student. No candidate is permitted to work in any        Laboratory/college/industry/pharmacy, etc. , while studying postgraduate course. No candidate should join any        other course of study or appear for any other examination conducted by this university or any other university in        India or abroad during the period of registration.
ii.     Each year shall be taken as a unit for the purpose of calculating attendance.
iii.    Every student shall attend symposia, seminars, conference, journal review meetings and lectures
       during each year as prescribed by the department/college/university and not absent himself/herself
       without valid reasons.
iv.    Candidate who has put in a minimum of 80% of attendance in the theory and practical assignments separately        shall be permitted to appear for M. Sc Nursing examination, provided she/he has completed the course and        has shown satisfactory progress
       mentioned in the logbook.
v.     Any student who fails to complete the course in the manner stated above shall not be
       permitted to appear for the university examinations.
vi.    The principal should notify in the college notice board attendance details at the end of
       each term without fail under intimation to the university

7 . INTERNAL ASSESSMENT MARKS
There shall be continuous internal assessment. The marks for internal assessment set apart for theory and practical in each subject, the average of which shall form the marks for internal assessment. The principal should notify on the notice board the internal assessment marks of the students at the end of each term without fail under intimation to the university. The Principals of the colleges shall send the internal assessment marks of the candidates both in the theory and practical to the university.
A Student must secure at least 50% of total marks fixed for internal assessment in a particular subject in order to be eligible to appear in the University Examination in that subject

Table 2: Distribution of Internal Assessment Marks for various subjects

8. MONITORING PROGRESS OF STUDIES
Every candidate shall maintain a logbook and record of her/his participation in the training programme conducted by the department such as journal reviews, seminars, etc. The faculty members and peers will assess the presentations using relevant checklists given in Section-IV.
Volume – I of this ordinance and in the M .Sc. Nursing logbook. The criteria for assessment and scoring procedures prescribed by RGUHS are given in Section- IV of Volume – I of this ordinance and in the M. Sc. Nursing logbook. The presentations made by the candidate should be mentioned in the log book. The logbook shall be scrutinized and certified by the Head of the Department and Head of the Institution, and presented in the university practical examination.

M. Sc. Nursing Log Book
The university has prescribed a log book and given as Volume – II to this ordinance. It may be got printed by all the Nursing colleges having M. Sc. Nursing course. The format given in the log book shall be followed by all the PG students.

9. DISSERTATION
Each candidate pursuing M. Sc. Nursing Course is required to carry out work on selected research project under the guidance of a recognized post graduate teacher. The results of such a work shall be submitted in the form of dissertation.

The dissertation is aimed to train a graduate student in research methods and techniques. It includes identification of problem, formulation of a hypothesis, search and review of literature, getting acquainted with recent advances, designing of a research study, collection of data, critical analysis, interpretation of results and drawing conclusions.
Every candidate shall submit to the Registrar (Academic) of the University in the prescribed proforma, a synopsis containing particulars of proposed dissertation work within six months from the date of commencement of the course on or before the date notified by the University. The synopsis shall be sent through the proper channel. Synopsis should be written as per the proforma given in the Annexure I, Section IV of Volume I.
Such synopsis will be reviewed and the University will register the dissertation topic. No change in the dissertation topic or guide shall be made without prior approval of the University.
The dissertation should be written under the following headings:
    i)   Introduction
   ii)   Aims or objectives of study
   iii)  Review of literature
   iv)  Material and methods
   v)   Results
   vi)  Discussion
   vii) Conclusion
   viii) Summary
   ix)  References
   x)   Tables
   xi)  Annexure

The written text of dissertation shall not be less than 50 pages and shall not exceed 100 pages excluding references, tables, questionnaires and other annexure. It should be neatly typed in double line spacing on one side of paper(A4 size, 8.27” x 11.69”) and bound properly. Spiral binding should not be done. A declaration by the candidate for having done the work should also be included, and certified by the guide, head of the department and head of the institution. Four copies of dissertation shall be submitted to the Registrar [Evaluation], through proper channel along with a soft copy (CD), three months before the final examination. Two examiners, one internal and one external, appointed by the university, shall assess it. No marks shall be awarded for dissertation. Acceptance of the dissertation is a pre-requisite for a candidateto appear for final examination. If there are corrections in the dissertation suggested by the examiner(s), the candidate will make such corrections and will be allowed to re-submit and if approved can appear for the examination.

10. EXAMINATION
The M. Sc. Nursing course shall have two examinations, one at the end of the first year (M. Sc. Nursing I) and the second at the end of the second year (M. Sc. Nursing II).

Table 3: Particulars of subjects of different papers, duration and distribution of marks

M. Sc. Nursing I year examination
It consists of theory (written) papers and practical examination.
Theory - (written) examination.
The following four papers shall be common to all candidates irrespective of the branch/specialty chosen:
    1. Advanced Concepts of Health and Nursing.
    2. Biological and Psycho-social Foundations of Nursing:- Section A and Section B.
    3. Education and Nursing Education: Section A and Section B.
    4. Bio-Statistics, Research methodology and Nursing Research: Section A and Section B.

In addition to the above there shall be one paper in the nursing specialty branch chosen by the candidate. The duration of each paper and distribution of marks is given in the Table 3.

Practical Examination
There shall be no practical examination for the four common subjects mentioned above. However, there shall be one practical examination in the nursing specialty branch (Nursing Specialty) chosen by the candidate.

Criteria for pass
To be declared as pass in the M. Sc. I year, a candidate has to pass in the prescribed subjects for the I year, fulfilling the criteria laid in (1) and (2) below, and secure total aggregate marks of 240/480 in the university examination.
    1.     Common Subjects
            A candidate shall secure in each of the common subjects not less than 50% marks
            prescribed for university examination (40 out of 80) in theory papers (exclusive of
            internal assessment marks).
    2.     Nursing specialty subject
            A candidate shall secure not less then 50% of marks prescribed for university Examination separately in             theory (40 out of 80) and practical examination (40 out of
            80), exclusive of internal assessment marks.

Carryover
A candidate who has passed in any of the three subjects, but has failed in any two subjects, is permitted to proceed to the II year. However, such a candidate shall have to pass all the failed subjects before becoming eligible to appear for II year M. Sc. Nursing university examination.

M. Sc. Nursing II year examination
The University examination consists of dissertation, written papers (theory) practical examination and viva-voce examination. Dissertation: Only candidates whose dissertation has been accepted shall be eligible to appear the M. Sc. II year university examination.
Theory (written papers): These shall be two papers: The paper on Nursing Administrations is common to all the candidates irrespective of the specialty chosen. The paper on Nursing Specialty II shall be in the branch chosen by the candidate.
The subjects, duration and distribution of marks are shown in Table 4.
Practical: There shall be no practical examination in Nursing Administration. There shall be practical examination for Nursing II in the subject specialty chosen.
Viva-voce: 60 marks, the distribution of marks shall be: Component (i) 50 marks and Component (ii) 10 marks

Component (i): 50 Marks. All examiners will conduct vice-voce jointly on candidate comprehension, analytical approach, expression, and interpretation of data. Communication skills and knowledge of all components of course contents of nursing specialty subjects’ chosen by the candidate. It includes presentation and discussion on dissertation also.
Component (ii): Pedagogy (Teaching skill) – 10 marks. A topic will be given to the candidate at the beginning of practical examination. She/he is asked to make a presentation on the topic for 8-10 minutes.

Table 4: Particulars of subjects for different papers, duration and distribution of marks for theory, practical and viva-voce

Criteria for pass

M. Sc. Nursing – II year
To be declared as pass in the M. Sc. II year a candidate has to pass in all the prescribed subjects for the II year fulfilling the criteria laid in (1) and (2) below, and secure total aggregate of marks of 150/300 in the university examination.

1. Common Subject
A candidate shall secure in the common subject not less than50% marks prescribed for the university examination (40/80) in theory paper, exclusive of internal assessment marks.

2. Nursing specialty subject
A candidate shall secure not less than 50% of marks prescribed for university examination, separately in theory (40/80) and practical including viva-voce (70/140) examination. The internal assessment marks shall not be added to any component.

Declaration of Class
a)     A candidate having appeared in all the subjects in the same examination and passes that examination in the         first attempt and secures 75% of marks or more of grand total marks prescribed* will be declared to have         passed the examination with distinction.

b)     A candidate having appeared in all the subjects in the same examination and passes that examination 9in the         first attempt and secure 65% of marks or more but less than 75% of grand total marks prescribed* will be         declared to have passed the examination in First Class.

*      The Grand total marks prescribed for I year is 600 marks [Internal Assessment marks (120)+
        University examination marks 480] and for II year it is 360 marks [Internal Assessment
        Marks (60) + University examination marks)
        [Please note fraction of marks should not be rounded off for clauses (a) and (b)]

Eligibility for degree
A candidate shall have passed in all the subject of M. Sc. I Year and M. Sc. II year to be eligible for the award of degree.

11. GUIDE
The qualification and teaching experience required to be eligible to be recognized as a guide shall be:

Qualification:
M. Sc. in Nursing in the concerned branch of specialty or Ph D in Nursing, from a university established by law and recognized by the Indian Nursing Council and State Nursing Council.
Teaching Experience:

Teaching experience:
Three years teaching experience of M. Sc. nursing students in a recognized Nursing college after acquiring post graduate degree M. Sc. Nursing.

Co- Guide
A Co-guide may be included provided the work requires substantial contribution from a sister department or from another medical institution recognized for teaching/training by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences/Indian Nursing Council/Karnataka Nursing Council. The co-guide shall be a recognized postgraduate teacher of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.
Guide Student Ratio
Number of students per guide 1:5
The number of students in M. Sc. Nursing in a branch shall not be more than five per recognized postgraduate teacher per year till 2008 vide letter no. 13-2-96-INC, dated27.10.1998. from Indian Nursing Council. No recognized postgraduate teacher (guide)) shall enrol candidates for branches other than the branches of her/his specialty.

Change of guide
In the event of registered guide leaving, the college for any reason or in the event of death of guide, guide may be changed with-prior permission from the university.