Degree: BSN, Nursing
Nursing Program
The BSN Completion Program is a post-licensure degree program administered by the College of Arts and Sciences. The program’s mission combines the University’s mission with the recommendations contained within the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Along with seven higher-level nursing courses, the program will continue the UMW tradition of liberal arts education by including three liberal arts courses. The program will enhance the writing, critical thinking, and speaking skills of RNs whose focus is the delivery of direct patient care and prepare them for lifelong learning and professional creativity.
Students are mentored by university faculty and nursing leaders in the community to identify and improve the delivery of patient care through the use of nursing research and evidenced-based practice.
The overarching goals of the program is to prepare nurses to be able to:
- Practice nursing within a complex healthcare system and assume the roles of care provider, designer, manager, and coordinator of care.
- Transition to health promotion and disease prevention healthcare provided in the community.
- Continue their nursing education to the graduate level.
The UMW BSN Completion Program Curriculum
The BSN Completion Program’s curriculum is designed for RNs. All applicants are required to have completed either an accredited associate degree program or a diploma program prior to being admitted to the program. All entering students must hold a current, unencumbered RN license which permits them to practice nursing in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The BSN Completion Program teaches RNs professionalism; the importance of inter-professional teams; healthcare policy, finance and regulation; patient-centered care; cultural sensitivity; health promotion and disease prevention; the impact of genetics on health risks; the use of evidenced–based practice, leadership principles and knowledge gained from a liberal education for clinical decision making, patient safety, and quality improvement; the use of technology and informatics in healthcare; life-long learning and practice across the lifespan.
The UMW BSN Completion Program Expected Graduates Outcomes are:
- Examine the concepts of professionalism and fundamental beliefs to nursing, which include the inherent values of altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, social justice, and ethics.
- Create intra- and inter-professional partnerships, characterized by teamwork, collaboration, and oral and written communication to deliver high-quality, safe patient care.
- Evaluate healthcare policy and finance and regulatory practices to influence the allocation of health resources in order to reduce health disparities.
- Utilize the nursing process when practicing caring, competent, holistic, and patient-centered nursing care with individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations from diverse backgrounds in a variety of settings across the lifespan.
- Evaluate nursing research to determine best practices and translate current evidence into professional nursing practice.
- Formulate plans of care which promote health and prevent disease for individuals, families, groups, populations, and communities in complex situations.
- Synthesize a liberal arts education, knowledge of nursing science, and critical thinking skills to support inter-professional partnerships which focus on health promotion and disease prevention.
- Compare and contrast leadership knowledge, skills, and attitudes to promote safe, high-quality care with a focus on continued evaluation and improvement within a variety of health care settings.
- Utilize information management knowledge and skills by employing technology and information systems to create safe patient care and enhanced decision-making in a variety of health care settings.
Accreditation
The baccalaureate degree in nursing at the University of Mary Washington is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
University of Mary Washington and Germanna Community College Nursing Programs Academic Partnership
The University of Mary Washington (UMW) and Germanna Community College (GCC) recognized the need for registered nurses (RNs) to achieve baccalaureate degrees in nursing through an improved education system which promotes seamless academic progression. Therefore the two nursing programs created an Academic Partnership and adopted two plans which lead to a BSN.
BSN Concurrent Enrollment Plan (BSN-CE)
This Agreement is for non-residential UMW students who are interested in earning a pre-licensure Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in nursing from GCC and a post-licensure BSN from UMW. This Agreement permits GCC nursing students to be concurrently enrolled in the BSN Completion Program while completing an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree in nursing. When students are accepted into the GCC Nursing Program, they, upon student request, will be granted admission into the BSN Completion Program as Pre-Nursing (3+1) students if they complete a Letter of Intent and have a GPA of 2.5 on a 4-point scale. Concurrently enrolled UMW/GCC nursing students may complete the three liberal arts courses included in the BSN Completion Program during summer sessions. Students may begin taking UMW courses that begin with the NURS prefix after presenting a current and valid unencumbered RN license to practice nursing in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Students will receive 41 credits upon presenting current and valid unencumbered RN license to practice nursing in the Commonwealth of Virginia to the BSN Completion Program office and complete a major declaration form. Both documents are submitted to the Office of the Registrar.
Second Degree
A student who has earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mary Washington and wishes to pursue further undergraduate work may either complete a post-baccalaureate major and have it noted on the permanent record (with the date of completion) or earn a second degree if it is different from the first degree (for example, a subsequent BSN if the first degree was a B.A., for example).
The student must apply for admission to the new degree program through the Office of Admissions and must earn at least 30 additional credits at Mary Washington after completion of the first degree. No more than 14 of these credits can be completed prior to matriculation for the second degree. The most appropriate 90 credits will be selected to count toward the second degree. The student must complete the degree program requirements in the Academic Catalog in effect at the time of matriculation into the second degree.
A student who earned their first degree from another institution must enter Mary Washington as a transfer student, then complete the requirements of the second degree as defined in the Academic Catalog in effect at the time of matriculation into the second degree.
Transfer Credit
The transfer credit total for the BSN degree cannot exceed 90 semester credits. At least 30 credits must be taken at the University of Mary Washington after admission to the program. The holder of an associate’s degree may receive up to 49 credits, in addition to the 41 credits for R.N. licensure, toward the BSN degree based on transcript evaluation. The holder of a Nursing Diploma may receive additional credits beyond the 41credits based on evaluation of their transcript.
Credit Through Examination
The University accepts many of the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) and DANTES Subject Standardized tests as undergraduate transfer credit. Students may earn credit by meeting the minimum required score on selected CLEP or DANTES tests; these credits may be used to fulfill general education, prerequisite requirements or as elective credits; they may not be used to fulfill NURS course requirements. A maximum of 30 credits by examination may be counted toward the degree. Students should consult the BSN Completion Program Office for information on specific CLEP or DANTES exams that are accepted by the University. CLEP tests are administered at local universities. DANTES exams are offered only on military installations.
Academic Resources, Policies, and Regulations for BSN students
BSN completion students have access to all the academic resources outlined in the section Academic Resources and Academic Policies sections of this Catalog.
Student Learning Outcomes
1. The student will be able to analyze personal and professional beliefs related to professionalism, role development, leadership, lifelong learning, and fundamental professional values.
2. The student will be able to discuss the historical and social contexts of nursing and the call for transformation in healthcare, to include the 2010 IOM report entitled "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change and Advancing Health."
3. The student will be able to synthesize the conceptual, philosophical, and theoretical bases for the practice of nursing.
4. The student will be able to examine intra-professional and interprofessional communication and collaboration and their effect on patient health outcomes, to include the AACN's "Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice."
5. The student will be able to demonstrate correct APA formatting and writing style.
6. The student will be able to demonstrate a mastery of critical thinking skills related to evidence-based practice, scholarly professional nursing writing, and presentation.
7. The student will be able to examine how the healthcare system is organized, financed and regulated.
8. The student will be able to evaluate the implications of healthcare policy on issues of access, affordability, equity, and social justice in healthcare delivery.
9. The student will be able to participate as a nursing professional in the political process to influence healthcare policy and to advocate for the profession and for vulnerable populations.
10. The student will be able to analyze improving healthcare environments and employment conditions that are conducive to providing safe and quality care through individual and collective action, and through professional organizations.
11. The student will be able to conduct a comprehensive assessment of health and illness parameters in an individual by applying basic concepts of integrative and holistic nursing assessments.
12. The student will be able to identify the use of common complementary and alternative health modalities to include the potential risks and benefits.
13. The student will be able to provide an individualized health promotion to minimize risk factors identified by a critical analysis of the individual's history and an assessment of the findings, genetic factors and environmental influences.
14. The student will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the elements of the research process, to include the ethical, moral and legal considerations of research involving human subjects.
15. The student will be able to critically appraise nursing research.
16. The student will be able to appraise the relationship between evidence-based nursing research, theory and practice.
17. The student will be able to utilize fundamentals of epidemiology, along with a foundational knowledge of health promotion, disease and injury prevention, to develop a community health intervention.
18. The student will be able to examine specialty practices in community and population health and identify and analyze the challenges therein.
19. The student will be able to synthesize knowledge by participating in the process of retrieval, appraisal and evaluation of nursing research to improve quality and safety patient outcomes.
20. The student will be able to formulate clinical quality and safety questions; and use structure, process and outcome measurements to lead change in nursing.
21. The student will be able to demonstrate the teambuilding, leadership and communication skills that are necessary to effectively implement patient safety and quality improvement initiatives.
22. The student will be able to describe and discuss the meaning of leadership style, power, influence and leading change as related to current nursing practice.
23. The student will be able to analyze current and emerging patient care technologies to enhance the delivery of patient care, improve patient outcomes, and promote safety, while also maintaining data security and confidentiality of patient information.
24. The student will be able to define the nursing informatics skills required for an RN to effectively make complex, evidence-based decisions which improve patient outcomes.
25. The student will be able to explore the use of standard computer information system terminologies and data management/analysis for quality improvement and regulatory reporting.
26. The student will be able to examine the utility of social technology and public information domains and their impact on improving patient outcomes and overall population health.
BSN Degree Requirements
As with other UMW undergraduate programs, 120 credits are required for the degree. In addition, a minimum of 30 credits need to be completed at UMW. The 10 courses listed below must be taken at UMW. A cumulative GPA of 2.00 on all UMW work is required. The BSN degree credits are distributed in the following requirement categories.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| General Education credits (see below, completed or in progress) transferred from a pre-licensure nursing program prior to the start of NURS courses. | 30 | |
| PHIL 226 | Medical Ethics | 3 |
| NURS 305 | Interprofessional Partnerships | 3 |
| NURS 310 | Professionalism in Nursing Practice | 3 |
| NURS 330 | Systems-Based Practice | 3 |
| NURS 350 | Quality and Safety in Nursing Practice | 3 |
| NURS 360 | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nursing Practice | 3 |
| NURS 410 | Scholarship for Nursing Practice | 3 |
| NURS 440 | Population Health | 3 |
| NURS 480 | Information and Healthcare Technologies | 3 |
| NURS 490 | Practicum | 3 |
| 41 credits: Copy of a current and valid unencumbered license to practice nursing (RN) in the Commonwealth of Virginia. | 41 | |
| 19 credits: Open Electives (completed or in progress) transferred from a pre-licensure nursing program prior to the start of NURS courses. (language study is highly recommended) | 19 | |
| Total Credits | 120 | |
General Education Requirements
Credits Transferred From a Pre-licensure Nursing Program
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Sciences to include Anatomy and Physiology | 12 | |
| English Composition | 6 | |
| Social Science | 6 | |
| Humanities | 3 | |
| Statistics 1 | 3 | |
| Total Credits | 30 | |
- 1
STAT 180 Introduction to Statistics (or equivalent course)