Enhance your career and prepare to meet the latest changes in healthcare with the Penn State Nursing (RN to B.S.) Degree Program.
It is open only to nurses who have previously earned either an associate degree or a diploma in nursing.
Curriculum
Penn State’s 120-credit RN to B.S. nursing program focuses on current topics in the field of nursing, including data management, ethics, and nursing research. Because you are already an RN, you may receive 33 of those credits by portfolio. In addition to program-specific General Education courses, you must complete the following 28 nursing credits to satisfy requirements for the degree:
Required (22 credits)
NURS 200W Understanding and Applying Nursing Research (3 credits)
NURS 251 Health Assessment (3 credits)
NURS 357 Introduction to Computing and Nursing Informatics (3 credits)
NURS 390 Transition and the Professional Nursing Role (3 credits)
NURS 417 Family and Community Health Concepts (4 credits)
NURS 465 Health Concepts for Adults with Complex Health Care Needs (3 credits)
NURS 475 Integrated Concepts in Nursing Practice (3 credits)
Electives (6 credits)
Information Emphasis
NURS 458 Ethical Challenges in Health Care Informatics (3 credits)
Other
NURS 401 Concepts of Health (3 credits)
NURS 402 Holistic Health (3 credits)
Penn State Abington’s Nursing (RN to B.S.) Degree Program comes on the heels of proposed states’ legislation requiring all registered nurses to obtain their bachelor of science degree within 10 years of initial licensure (RN-Plus-10). Many area hospitals also have implemented a BS in nursing degree requirement for their nursing staff.
Students with outstanding records of scholarship and leadership also are invited to join Sigma Theta Tau, the international honor society for nursing. Penn State is home to the Beta Sigma chapter, one of more than 150 chapters of Sigma Theta Tau located at colleges and universities throughout the world.