Nursing B.S.

Philosophy

The nursing program philosophy contains the faculty's beliefs about person, well-being (health), nursing, and nursing education.

A person is a unique functionally integrated individual connected with others and with the environment. To be human means to be free to choose, which gives meaning to life and affects a person’s well-being (health).

Well-being (health) is considered to be a dynamic process involving unity and harmony encompassing the entire nature of the individual; the physical, social, esthetic and moral realms. When individuals experience real self, harmony is the result. Harmony is associated with well-being (health). Moreover, individual well-being (health) contributes to community well-being (health).

Nursing is both an art and a practice science. The faculty believes that caring in the human health experience is the essence of the discipline of nursing. That is, the goal of nursing is to promote well-being (health) through caring. The nurse supports the well-being of persons, families, groups, communities and societies via a caring relationship.

Caring is a relational process in which the aim is to nurture the wholeness of persons, including faculty, students, colleagues, and patients. Caring has both spiritual and ethical dimensions. Spiritual caring involves creativity and choice. Nurses use support, empowerment, growth, and hope in spiritual caring practice. The crucial part of ethical caring promotes the good and functions as the compass in nurses' choice making.

In transpersonal caring, the nurse seeks to connect with the spirit of another in a mutual search for meaning and wholeness. The nurse, through transpersonal caring, develops a helping-trusting, authentic relationship with a patient to facilitate healing.

Caring nursing practice includes application of both the art and science of nursing. Caring practice by the nurse incorporates cultural sensitivity and humility, professionalism, leadership, collaboration, critical thinking, and expert clinical reasoning in the context of evidence-based practice to provide safe, quality, patient-centered care. On the personal level, caring in the individual nurse’s practice is developed through reflection-on-experience. At the system level, the nurse demonstrates caring through continuous quality improvement.

The nurse, patient, and health-care system are dynamically interconnected. For example, system and patient-care decisions incorporate expert application of information management and patient care technology. Nurses as leaders in the health-care system focus on optimal patient, family, and community physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. Professional collaboration and communication with patients and health-care professionals, in a variety of settings, is essential to achieve positive health outcomes.

The faculty believes that nursing requires integration of multiple types of knowledge. These include empirics (the science of nursing), aesthetics (the art of nursing), ethics (moral knowledge), and personal knowledge (knowledge gained by life experience). The application of nursing knowledge requires complex decision-making involving consciousness, caring, and choice. Education involves all aspects of caring for the person (student, faculty, patient, or community member). Undergraduate education in nursing builds on previously learned information and prepares the student as a beginning professional practitioner. Within nursing, personal and professional learning and growth are lifetime endeavors.

Program Learning Outcomes

• Provide safe, quality, holistic, evidence-based patient-centered care in a variety of health care settings to diverse patient populations across the lifespan.
• Use critical thinking and clinical reasoning to make patient-centered care decisions.
• Implement quality improvement strategies within a variety of health care systems.
• Collaborate and communicate with patients, health care professionals, and members of community groups to improve health outcomes.
• Use information management systems and patient care technology when providing patient care.
• Engage in leadership/management of care activities to improve direct and indirect patient care within a variety of health care systems.
• Assimilate professional, legal, and ethical guidelines in practice as a professional nurse.
• Develop authentic caring, culturally sensitive relationships with patients to promote wellness, prevent disease, and facilitate well-being.

Admission Requirements to the Nursing Program (Pre-licensure Tracks)

To establish eligibility for admission into the pre-licensure nursing program, students must have the following:

• A cumulative GPA in all coursework of 2.5 or above and a nursing program-specific GPA of 3.25 or above.
• Courses completed with a grade of “C-“ or lower will not be considered for transfer.
• A student must complete all prerequisite course requirements prior to entry into the upper division major (see School of Nursing home page for more detailed information).
• Biological science courses, BIOL 223, BIOL 224, and BIOL 251 (Anatomy and Physiology I, Anatomy and Physiology II, and Microbiology) may only be attempted two times. A “W” counts as a course attempt for all new students, including transfer, effective Fall 2012.
• Biological science courses, BIOL 223, BIOL 224, and BIOL 251 (Anatomy and Physiology I, Anatomy and Physiology II, and Microbiology) must have been taken within seven years of the date of application to the School of Nursing.
• Applicants must complete the three biology courses (BIOL 223, BIOL 224, and BIOL 251) prior to submitting their application to the School of Nursing (SON). NURS 337 can be in progress.
• The GPA used for admission into the School of Nursing will be determined using grades up to and including the semester prior to application to the School of Nursing.
• Courses taken during the Summer before entering the program in the Fall must be taken at NSC. Courses taken during the Spring before entering the program in the Summer must be taken at NSC. Courses taken during the Fall before entering the program in the Spring must be taken at NSC.
• No more than 12 credits may be in progress when applying to the nursing program.
• Applications must be complete. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• All applications must be accompanied by an updated Degree Audit Report.
• Score on TEAS (current published version) preadmission test is required.
• Enrollment in the nursing program may be limited. Contact the School of Nursing for additional details if necessary.

Admission Requirements to the Nursing Program (RN to BSN Track)

To establish eligibility for admission into the RN to BSN nursing program, students must have the following:

• Associate degree from a regionally accredited program.
• A current, unencumbered Registered Nurse (RN) license that must be maintained throughout the course of the program.
• Recent graduates must obtain and provide verification of RN license within 7 weeks of acceptance to the program.
• A cumulative GPA on all coursework of 2.0 or above.
• A copy of government-issued ID.

Retention Requirements (Pre-licensure and RN to BSN Tracks)

• Students must earn a grade of "C" or higher in each course of the nursing curriculum to continue in the program.
• Must maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA.

Provisional Admission to the Nursing Program (Pre-licensure Tracks only)

Students can attain provisional admission to the nursing program if all of the following parameters are met:

• GPA on admission to the college
  • High School students: 3.75 or higher;
  • Transfer students: 3.75 or higher with 24 or more credits including a grade of “B” or higher on the first attempt for the following courses: BIOL 189, BIOL 223, and BIOL 224;

• No remedial courses;

• All Biology courses are complete with a grade of “B” or higher on the first attempt;
• Maintain a 3.75 program specific GPA up to application to nursing program;
• Complete the nursing pre-requisites in two calendar years including winter and summer terms;
• Meet specified Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) benchmark.

In the event the number of applicants who qualify for provisional admission exceed the number of available spots, admission decision will be based on order of application received.

(See School of Nursing home page for more detailed information.)

Health Documents (Pre-licensure Tracks only)

Students must provide evidence of their own health insurance, as well as their own transportation to clinical sites. They must also purchase and create an account with an online immunization/document tracking system and will be responsible for submitting all of the School of Nursing's required documentation to this account by the assigned deadlines. Students who do not submit their documents by the deadlines may be unable to attend clinical experiences which could result in the inability to successfully complete their courses. These documents will show that the students have met various health requirements: 

1. Hepatitis B vaccination series
2. Mumps vaccine (2 doses) or titer
3. Rubella vaccine (2 doses) or titer
4. Rubeola vaccine (2 doses) or titer
5. Tetanus and diphtheria: inoculation within past ten (10) years
6. Chickenpox (Varicella): documented illness, immunization (2 doses), or titer
7. Tuberculosis: Must select one of the choices below:
   1. Two-step TB skin test (PPD) for students with no history of receiving a PPD or have not been tested in the last 12 months;
   2. Proof of a negative Tuberculin-PPD in the last 12 months and an original negative two-step;
   3. QuantiFERON-TB test for students with no history of receiving a PPD or have not been tested in the last 12 months;
   4. Documentation of a negative chest x-ray within the past 6 months for students with a past positive PPD along with proof of the past positive PPD
8. All students with a history of a past positive PPD must complete yearly the tuberculosis signs and symptoms questionnaire available in the nursing program office.
9. Flu vaccine (seasonal)
10. Negative result to a 10-panel drug screen
11. CPR certification (Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Providers course approved by the American Heart Association)
12. Background check
13. Physical examination within 3 months of starting the first clinical course (first semester for Full-Time track students and second semester for Part-Time track students)
14. Health History

• Nursing B.S. (Full-Time Track)
• Nursing B.S. (Part-Time Track)
• Nursing B.S. (RN to BSN Track)