Regis College Introduces Masters Program for Nursing Leadership and Health Product Regulation

It’s a given that testing and regulation are integral to medical product research, development and manufacturing. Highly skilled testers and regulatory professionals are essential to business growth as well as to health care quality. Regis College in Weston, MA is introducing a graduate program to make sure that those who do the testing and regulation have the tools to do the job right.

Nurses work in the forefront of safe patient care. Increasingly, they are the ones who work with companies that develop medical products, providing clinical application knowledge needed for regulatory product approval. Having worked with patients and operated medical products, nurses bring unique experience to work that establishes the safety and effectiveness of medical products.

Regis College is about to introduce a Masters degree program in Nursing Leadership and Health Product Regulation. The Masters degree is an opportunity for nurses to take leadership roles in clinical affairs for product development. Regis expects to accept the first students in the 2008 fall term.

The program builds on Regis’s existing graduate programs in Nursing and in Health Product Regulation. The new program will combine core courses in Nursing Leadership with core courses in either Clinical Affairs or Product Regulation.

Clinical trials are essential to the development and evaluation of many pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Nurses have participated as clinical trial managers for many years. Masters degree training provides a foundation for playing a key coordination and management role in work with investigators, sponsors, medical staff, and patients. Graduates of the program are expected to work in research institutions, clinical research organizations, and medical product companies.

Currently there is a small but growing number of Masters degree programs in nursing leadership that focus on clinical studies or medical product development. (Arizona State University was among the first.) Though several Massachusetts universities offer degrees in nursing or in regulatory affairs, Regis College is the first to combine the programs for nurses who want a leadership role in clinical affairs and product development.

Medical device companies interested in finding out more about the program, becoming curriculum advisers and/or teachers can contact us, Toni Hays, Dean of the Regis College School of Nursing and Health Professions, (781-768-7090) or Chas Burr, Graduate Program Director, Health Product Regulations (781-768-7008).

The Regis College School of Nursing and Health Professions educates over 500 graduate students in programs that award certificates with graduate credit, Masters and Doctorate of Nursing Practice degrees.

715 Albany Street, TW1   Boston, MA 02118   tel: 617 414 1340   fax: 617 414 1344   info@massmedic.com