Master’s Degree on Public Health Nursing (with Thesis)

The areas of expertise for the Public Health Nursing are defined in the nursing regulation as “Home Care Nurse”, “Maternal and Infant Health and Centre for Family Planning Nurse”, “Community Mental Health Centre Nurse”, “Occupational Health Nurse”, “School Health Nurse” and “Prison and Detention House Nurse”. A public health nurse must complete and graduate from the master’s degree study in nursing and is obliged to perform role and responsibilities set out in the regulation. The attending nurse is defined in the regulation as a nurse who has received postgraduate education in the relevant department of nursing. To meet the country’s requirement for work force in this regard, Lokman Hekim University, Public Health Nursing, Master’s Degree Program with Thesis has been developed by the resolution of Council of Higher Education on 17.03.2021. The course language is Turkish. The program is carried out by the academic members specialized in Public Health Nursing. In average, 10 students are accepted to program every year. Master’s Degree on Public Health Nursing Student’s application for, acceptance and final enrolment to Public Health Nursing Master’s Degree Program with Thesis is carried out in accordance with Postgraduate Education Instruction of Institute of Medical Sciences, Lokman Hekim University. Furthermore, specific conditions required from the applied students, place and date of entrance exam are determined with recommendation of Department and Institute’s Management Board’s resolution prior to each application period; it is announced prior to applications. Students graduated from university faculties delivering 4-year education such as Nursing Faculty, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Nursing Department, Nursing School and Nursing Department of Health School and other faculty graduates who have a bachelor’s degree as deemed appropriate by the recommendation of Department Academic Board and by the Faculty Board may apply to Public Health Nursing Master’s Degree Program with Thesis. Turkish or foreign students who have completed an undergraduate program in foreign countries must have a certificate of equivalence or certificate of recognition issued by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK). The score for ALES (SAY/EA) must not be less than 55 for the applications to program as determined by the Institute Board. The students who meet the application conditions must take the scientific assessment exam (written exam and/or interview). Calculation of general final grade is based on the ALES score, grade point average of undergraduate graduation and the result of scientific assessment exam. The students will be entitled to final enrolment within the specified quota on the basis of general final grade ranking. To have bachelor’s degree on nursing To be graduated from the Public Health Nursing Master’s Degree Program with Thesis, the students are required to complete minimum 21 credits and 120 ECTS (minimum seven courses, seminar course and thesis study). Seminar course and thesis study do not require any credits and are considered pass/failure. Even if the student has courses with credit transfer, they must take minimum half of the total credit required by their program from their own program. If the counselor deems appropriate and necessary, they may chose courses from other programs. Postgraduate Education and Exam Regulation of Lokman Hekim University shall apply to assessment of student course success. The objectives of Public Health Nursing Master’s Degree Program is to educate specialist nurses with necessary knowledge and skills to follow the basic principles for community-based public health nursing, create awareness for society’s dynamics and health requirements, prioritise the most critical health problems, provide accessible services to those in need, work in collaboration and coordination with different team members, agencies and institutions for meeting the needs of society/ family/ individuals, involve society in service process, improve evidence-based applications, identify the health threats to society, take action for control, and become an advocate for society. Public Health Nursing master’s degree program is intended to educate specialist nurses who are able to perform any nursing functions required by community-based health services with higher knowledge and skills, pursue current scientific developments for improving the care they provide, use the critical thinking and problem solving skills in the nursing practices, and provide leadership for professional nursing on the public health-related elderly health, school health, occupational health, environmental health, home care, maternal and infant health, prison and detention house services, and community mental health.

1. They are able to access the current scientific information specific to Public Health Nursing, assess it in critical way, and use the evidence-based information,
2. They use the specific roles of Public Health Nursing by associating with nursing philosophy, and public health concepts and theories,
3. They are able to identify global and national primary health problems, and interpret them extensively evidence-based,
4. They do research on the Public Health Nursing to contribute to field.
5. They respect the human rights, human honour, professional values and ethical principles in the areas of Public Health Nursing.
6. They use the information technology specific to Public Health Nursing.
7. They provide and support health training for improving self-care in case of improving health of community/ family/ ındividual, prevention of diseases, and loss of abilities.
8. They are able to be a leader for professional nursing in the public health nursing specialty in terms of elderly health, school health, occupational health, environmental health, home care, community’s mental health, maternal and infant health, prison-detention house services.
9. They assess the society’s health problems from the community-based perspective, make and implement plans for solving problems.
10. They plan the care for risky groups in the society and advocate to society.
11. In accordance with basic principles for public health nursing, they prioritise the most critical health problems, provide accessible services to those in need, work in collaboration and coordination with different team members, agencies and institutions for meeting the needs of society/ family/ individuals.
12. They use the epidemiological research and statistical methods.
13. They identify the society’s health problems using the epidemiological methods and tools and provide solutions to those problems.
14. They carry out the roles and practices of public health nurse in different work areas in a team.

The students graduated from the Public Health Nursing master’s degree program with thesis may work in the public or private health institutions and primary care health services as “Home Care Nurse”, “Maternal & Infant Health and Family Planning Centre Nurse”, “Community Mental Health Centre Nurse”, “Occupational Health Nurse”, “School Health Nurse” and “Prison and Detention House Nurse”, head nurse, managing nurse, and education nurse. They are also very likely to be included in academic staff of Faculty of Medical Sciences – Nursing Department and Nursing Faculties of universities. The students graduated from the Public Health Nursing master’s degree program with thesis may apply to doctorate program if they meet the other required conditions. The students receive a course final grade for each course at the end of the half-term. The course final grade is calculated by assessment of success achieved by the student during the half-term (mid-term exams, assignments, applied studies, projects, laboratory and similar activities) and general exam together. The program courses must be successfully completed in maximum two years with general point average of minimum 2.50. For students to be graduated from the Public Health Nursing master’s degree program with thesis, they are required to complete all the courses in the program successfully, have minimum 120 ECTS credits, and have a grade point average of minimum 2.50 out of 4.00. A student in the master’s degree program with thesis is required to prepare a thesis on their field, write the thesis results in accordance with the institute’s rules for writing a thesis, and verbally defend their thesis before the jury after completion of courses. The student’s graduation date is the date of thesis exam when the master’s degree thesis is accepted. Study type is full-time. When necessary, courses and exams may be taken after the end of working hours during the week and/or on the Saturday and Sunday. Prof Dr Belgin AKIN Department Head of Public Health Nursing E-mail: belgin.akin@lokmanhekim.edu.tr Phone: 444 8 548     Extension: 6823