Nursing Degrees Online

This program is designed for registered nurses seeking a BS in Nursing. A current Pennsylvania nursing license is required.
Fast Track Program (Greensburg & Cranberry)
RN to BSN/RN to MSN Nursing (Undergraduate to Graduate)
You became a nurse because you care … about your patients, about your colleagues, about people. You want to make sure your patient gets the best care available, and that begins with your degree. The Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing (BSN) is the preferred degree in nursing practice according to the American Nurses Association. And, it is the base degree which provides a nurse with the best chance for career and educational advancement.

Our program focuses on the six essential areas of contemporary nursing: community-based care, multiculturalism, health promotion, health care policy, nursing research, and nursing theory. Limited clinical hours are included, as the program relies heavily on the experience gained during completion of the registered nurse (RN) licensure.

The accelerated format is designed for the student who has successfully earned RN licensure. Carlow accepts up to 58 transfer credits in core liberal arts and sciences, and awards RN students an additional 30 advanced standing credits in nursing. Classes are held once a week during daylight hours, and students move through the program as part of a cohort group.This fast-track program is designed to be completed in 16 months or less depending on the completion of prerequisite courses.

Upon earning the BSN, you may choose to continue your education by pursuing one of two MSN degrees in the same one-day per week accelerated format.

Concentration:
Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Degree:
Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

Nursing is the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems (American Nurses Association). The role of the professional/baccalaureate nurse encompasses three broad areas:
Provider of direct and indirect care to individuals, families, groups, communities and populations
Designer, manager and coordinator of care
Member of a profession

IU Southeast’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program offers a creative curriculum to prepare future nurses to meet the current and future health needs of society. The curriculum prepares graduates to function as practitioners in acute and long-term care, community settings, home care and other non-traditional settings as well as provides a foundation for leadership positions and graduate study.

Baccalaureate nursing education provides a broad foundation in the sciences and liberal arts, which is necessary for preparing professional nurses who are capable of practicing in a competent and responsible fashion as informed citizens in a dynamic and diverse society.

Graduates of the baccalaureate nursing program are expected to demonstrate competency in being a critical thinker; a culturally competent person; a knowledgeable coordinator of community resources; a politically aware professional; a beginning practitioner whose actions are consistent with professional legal and ethical standards; an effective communicator; a competent provider of health care; a person who exemplifies a positive public image; and a responsible manager. These competencies are consistent with the 1998 “Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice,” established by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the 2004 “Standards of Nursing Practice,” established by the American Nurses’ Association (ANA), along with the ANA 2001 Code of Ethics.

Baccalaureate graduates assist individuals, families, and communities in attaining mutually established health goals and in facilitating the highest level of functioning for individuals, families, and communities toward the maximization of their health potential. Baccalaureate education must prepare graduates to be knowledgeable workers and processors of information, and to navigate complex health care systems using available technologies as they design and develop, independently or in conjunction with others, more efficient and effective approaches to the delivery of health care services.
Purpose

The baccalaureate program offers a creative curriculum for the education of professional nurses competent in meeting the current and future health needs of society. The curriculum prepares graduates to function as practitioners in acute and long-semester care, community settings, home care, and other nontraditional settings, and also provides a foundation for leadership positions and graduate study.

The graduate of the B.S.N. program possesses a broad knowledge of the humanities, the biological and social sciences, and nursing. As a beginning practitioner, the graduate applies well-developed problem-solving skills in caring for individuals, families, and communities.
Student Outcomes

The following outcomes are expected of a graduate of the baccalaureate program:

Critical Thinker: Someone who is able to demonstrate intellectual curiosity, rational inquiry, problem-solving skills, and creativity in framing problems.

Culturally Competent Person: Someone who can provide holistic nursing care to a variety of individuals, families, and communities.

Knowledgeable Coordinator: A coordinator of community resources who facilitates individual, family, and community access to resources necessary for meeting health care needs.

Politically Aware: Person Someone who participates in the profession and the practice of nursing with a global perspective.

Conscientious Practitioner: An individual who practices within the ethical and legal framework of the nursing profession.

Effective Communicator: Someone who is able to share accurate information.

Therapeutic Nursing Intervention/Competent Care Provider: A competent provider of health care who assumes the multiple role dimensions in structured and semi-structured health care settings.

Professional Role: Model A person who promotes a positive public image of nursing.

Responsible Manager: Someone who balances human, fiscal, and material resources to achieve quality health care outcomes.

The Master of Science program in the College of Nursing fosters scholarship, critical thinking, creativity, and prepares nurses for leadership as advanced practice nurses. In addition, the Master of Science program offers advanced level courses that serve as a base for PhD study.

Objectives

The graduate of the Master of Science program is prepared to:
Integrate evidence-based nursing and interdisciplinary knowledge into advanced practice nursing care of patients.
Promote culturally sensitive, holistic approaches in the provision of advanced practice nursing care and health care services.
Collaborate with patients and their families, the community and other health professionals to promote the health of individuals and groups in the community
Use nursing knowledge and practice innovations for the purposes of promoting health and healing.
Promote patient safety and quality in health care services through collaboration with professional colleagues within and across institutional and community settings
Deliver cost effective advanced practice nursing care to individuals and groups.
Assume a leadership role in advancing the nursing profession and in organizing health related services for the community.
Implement the advanced practice nursing role in accordance with the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice and the national standards of advanced nursing practice.

The outcomes for the FNP concentration include all components suggested in the Essentials of Masters Education for Advanced Practice Nursing and the the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). These outcomes are as follows:
Incorporating concepts and theories from nursing and related disciplines into advanced nursing practice.
Demonstrating advanced knowledge and skills through nursing practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Specifically, the graduate will demonstrate competence in the following domains as defined by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) in 2006:
Management of client health/illness status.
The nurse client-relationship.
The teaching-coaching function.
Professional role.
Managing and negotiating health care delivery systems.
Monitoring and ensuring quality health care practice.
Cultural competence.
Participating in scientific inquiry to validate or contribute knowledge relevant to nursing practice.
Using theory to examine and influence systems affecting health care.
Practicing in an ethical manner, which reflects an understanding of human values, diversity, and contemporary social issues.
Articulating a personal professional philosophy of advanced nursing practice.

Having met the above objectives the graduate is also prepared to enter doctoral study.

Students in this concentration will take a total of 48-51 semester hours. This includes the MSN Core Courses which comprise 15-18 semester hours. An intensive clinical practicum (a total of 630 clock hours) parallels the didactic courses thus providing ongoing opportunity for application of theory to clinical practice. With a specialization in family Nurse Practitioner, you will be eligible to take the family nurse practitioner national certification exam offered by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners or the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association.

The outcomes for the FNP concentration include all components suggested in the Essentials of Masters Education for Advanced Practice Nursing and the the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). These outcomes are as follows:
Incorporating concepts and theories from nursing and related disciplines into advanced nursing practice.
Demonstrating advanced knowledge and skills through nursing practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Specifically, the graduate will demonstrate competence in the following domains as defined by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) in 2006:
Management of client health/illness status.
The nurse client-relationship.
The teaching-coaching function.
Professional role.
Managing and negotiating health care delivery systems.
Monitoring and ensuring quality health care practice.
Cultural competence.
Participating in scientific inquiry to validate or contribute knowledge relevant to nursing practice.
Using theory to examine and influence systems affecting health care.
Practicing in an ethical manner, which reflects an understanding of human values, diversity, and contemporary social issues.
Articulating a personal professional philosophy of advanced nursing practice.

Having met the above objectives the graduate is also prepared to enter doctoral study.

Students in this concentration will take a total of 48-51 semester hours. This includes the MSN Core Courses which comprise 15-18 semester hours. An intensive clinical practicum (a total of 630 clock hours) parallels the didactic courses thus providing ongoing opportunity for application of theory to clinical practice. With a specialization in family Nurse Practitioner, you will be eligible to take the family nurse practitioner national certification exam offered by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners or the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association.

As defined by the American Nurses Association, professional nursing is the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual and high-risk health problems.

The Associate Degree Registered Nursing Programs at Grossmont College prepare men and women for national licensure to practice professional nursing in critical, acute, chronic, ambulatory and home health care settings. For students without previous nursing education, the nursing courses cover four semesters plus the prerequisite science courses. Nursing science didactic is coordinated with laboratory experience in local hospitals and health agencies under the guidance of nursing faculty members. In addition to the nursing courses, the major requires selected general education courses from the natural, behavioral and social sciences. A special application for this major is required. Applications to the Nursing Program will be accepted for both programs after prerequisite requirements are met.

California Licensed Vocational Nurses are eligible to apply for a three-semester LVN-RN Transition Program. California LVN’s also may take the “30-unit option” but will not be graduates of the Nursing Program or the college unless all other requirements are met. An individual evaluation will be made for students wishing to transfer into the Nursing Program or to receive credit for previous education.

Upon completion of the degree requirements, the graduate is eligible to apply to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEXRN).

1 Enhance the synthesis of concepts and theories from baccalaureate nursing education to lead to an integration of knowledge for application to advanced practice nursing.
2 Accelerate the interactive progress of learning by providing an atmosphere which promotes critical thinking, freedom of expression, independent judgment and intellectual curiosity.
3 Prepare an advanced practice nurse capable of providing a high level of expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of complex responses of individuals, families and communities to actual or potential health problems.
4 Create an attitude of valuing learning, research, scholarship and service as professional activities.
5 Provide a foundation for doctoral study.
6 Foster a sensitivity to the interconnectedness of all individuals to the human and global community that will enhance the care of diverse ethnic and cultural populations.

Requirements for a Master’s in Community Health Nursing
Program Core - Flexibility is allowed in course progression, however, a time limit of six years as per Graduate School Policy is applied.

Typical Program Sequence:
Semester I
NU 910 Professional Role Development 3 credits
NU 920 Conceptual Foundations of Nursing 3 credits

Semester II
NU 925 Nursing Research in Advanced Practice 3 credits
NU 930 Social Policy and the Economics of the Health Care Delivery System 3 credits

Support Courses
Semester III
NU 936 Epidemiology 3 credits
NU 941 Program Planning and Evaluation 3 credits

Semester IV
NU 946 Biostatistics 3 credits
NU 951 Administration 3 credits

Specialty Courses
Semester V
NU 961 Nursing Science I Community Health CNS Theory and Practicum 9 credits

Semester VI
NU 966 Nursing Science II Community Health CNS Theory and Practicum 9 credits
This program meets all criteria for American Nurses Association certification as a community health clinical nurse specialist.
In order to be flexible and allow students to meet clinical requirements, the program allows students who have completed a minimum of 4 courses or the equivalent of 1 year to begin clinical practicums.

The Master of Science degree in Community Health Nursing emphasizes advanced practice nursing with a community/public health focus. The graduate of the community health nursing program will be a clinical nurse specialist (CNS)/advanced practice nurse who is eligible to take the American Nurses Association certification examination upon graduation.

The community health nursing graduate program provides courses that allow the student to develop a population wide perspective of health encompassing knowledge and skills applicable to communities or defined populations within the community. This program educates nurses to use preventative and health promoting interventions, to counsel and communicate with communities and aggregate populations in a creative, collaborative practice.
Students apply theoretical knowledge to professional practice, incorporating the American Nurses Association identified roles of the CNS as specialist in clinical practice, educator, consultant, researcher, and administrator/leader. The graduate of this program will function as a community health clinical nurse specialist who influences policies and standards that affect the delivery of care and ultimately human health and wellness.

The Adult APN acquires advanced knowledge for the roles of both clinical nurse specialists and adult nurse practitioners. The APN is prepared to manage the entire continuum of care for patients in a variety of health care settings.. Upon completion of the Adult Advanced Practice Nurse track, students are eligible for Adult Nurse Practitioner Certification and/or Clinical Nurse Specialist through the American Nurses’ Association.