Undergraduate Programs
Second Degree BSN Program
"Changing careers to study nursing was challenging - but also empowering. The knowledge and skills I gained at Duquesne have made me the confident and professional nurse I am today"
Michelle Scott, BSN
2011 Second Degree BSN Graduate
Overview School of Nursing Fact Sheet
The Second Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing program enables a non-nurse with a baccalaureate degree to obtain a BSN in one year. After 12 month of intensive full-time study, during which time all requirements for a BSN degree are met, students are eligible to take the nursing licensure examination.
The Second Degree BSN program begins in August and includes three semesters of intensive course work comprised of more than 850 hours of clinical practice in state-of-the-art health care settings, creative Web-enhanced seminars for non-clinical courses, and traditional classroom instruction.
How Credits are Calculated: |
|
| Transfer credits from your previous degree | 36 credits |
| Prerequisites taken for the Second Degree Program | 24 credits |
| Credits taken at Duquesne University School of Nursing in the Second Degree Program |
60 credits |
| Total Credits for the Second Degree Program | 120 credits |
Upon completion of the BSN, students are eligible to apply to begin graduate nursing coursework in one of three Master of Science in Nursing specialties: Family Nurse Practitioner, Forensic Nursing, or Nursing Education.
School of Nursing Conceptual Framework
The curriculum flows logically from the conceptual framework originally developed by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. The Synergy Model suggests that patient outcomes are enhanced when the nurses’ competencies are compatible with the characteristics or needs of the patient. When applied in the educational system, the center of attention for the model is the students and their learning. In the academic environment, developmental needs of the students are advanced when faculty competencies are aligned with the learning needs of nursing students. The competencies of the nurse identified in the model are those the faculty envisions as essential to the success of the nurses’ interventions. Underlying all of the nurses’ competencies is the unique contribution of nurses to provide “safe passage” for patients and their families through the health care environment. According to Curly (1998) these competencies are:
- Clinical judgment – clinical reasoning that underpins decision-making in clinical practice, includes the assessment of given patient care situations, and nursing skill.
- Advocacy and moral agency – representing the interests of the “other” and identifying and working to manage or explain ethical and clinical concerns. This dimension acknowledges the unique trust inherent in the nurse patient relationship.
- Caring practices – constellation of nursing activities that are responsive to the uniqueness of the patient, family, group and community and create therapeutic environment. Caring practices include: vigilance, engagement and responsiveness.
- Facilitation of learning – ability to use self to maximize patients’ learning.
- Collaboration – working with others to promote and encourage each person’s contribution to achieving optimal goals for the patient. This includes intra and interdisciplinary work.
- Systems thinking – appreciating the care environment and the interrelationships within and across health care systems.
- Response to diversity – sensitive to recognize appreciate and incorporate differences between and among people along multiple dimensions in the provision of care.
- Clinical inquiry – process of questioning and evaluating practice, assessing evidence base of practice and innovating through research and learning.
Program Outcomes
At the completion of the nursing program, the student will:
- Integrate clinical judgment skills when implementing care for individuals, families, groups, and community.
- Justify one’s practice through the implementation of the role of being a moral agent.
- Display a caring attitude in all aspects of one’s practice.
- Institute collaborative efforts for the improvement of care to individuals and for improvement in health care delivery.
- Demonstrate the ability to utilize integrated systems analysis for personal and professional navigation of the health care delivery systems.
- Integrate cultural sensitivity in caring for individuals/families of diverse populations.
- Engage in evidence based practice.
- Incorporate teaching into all aspects of one’s practice.
- Evaluate the interrelationship of nurse competencies and the patient characteristics to patient outcomes.
