Philosophy

Nursing at Norwich University is grounded in the core essentials of baccalaureate education and predicated on the profession’s ideals of compassionate care, respect, integrity, and social justice. Recognizing emerging trends in population health, technology, and cultural diversity and inclusion as inherent components of professional nursing practice, we prepare students for professional nursing roles in a transforming, complex, and dynamic healthcare environment. The Faculty members
believe that through participation in direct clinical care and simulated clinical experiences, students will acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for nursing competence in promoting optimal health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities.

The Faculty further believes that teaching and learning evolves, through a seamless progression, in competency-based nursing practice. Graduates become proficient in patient-centered care with an emphasis on quality improvement methods and patient safety. The responsibility of the professional nurse is complex, requiring expertise in leadership, communication and teamwork.

The School of Nursing offers a program, accelerated, and RN-BS programs leading to the Bachelor of Science. The traditional four-year and accelerated programs lead to eligibility to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN).

Goals

  • Integrate knowledge derived from nursing science, health-related sciences, and humanities when designing and providing patient-centered care.

  • Provide patient-centered care in which the dignity, spirituality, and rights of the individual family and community are respected.

  • Promote the profession’s obligation to legal, ethical and moral standards.

  • Lead, based on the values of commitment, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.

  • Employ informatics to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision-making.

  • Communicate effectively in a manner that fosters respectful and collaborative decision making, thus enhancing patient satisfaction and health outcomes.

  • Integrate political awareness, critical thinking, social justice and participation in the policy process with professional role behavior.

  • Use the best current evidence coupled with clinical reasoning to minimize risk and improve the quality and safety of patient care.

  • Value the pursuit of practice excellence, lifelong learning, and professional engagement to foster professional growth and development.

RN-BS

The Register Nurse to Bachelor of Science (RN-BS) is for students with an associate degree in nursing. This program is entirely online and allows flexibility to complete courses at their own pace.

The RN-BS program is for currently licensed nurses, so they do not take any pre-license exams. Also, the curriculum is different for the purpose of enhancing the nurse’s current skill set. This program is entirely online and does not involve in-person clinical experiences, meaning the students do not need to complete the above clinical requirements.

RN-MSN

The Registered Nurse to Master of Science in Nursing (RN-MSN) mirrors the RN-BS program with the exception of three undergraduate courses that will be replaced with graduate-level course requirements. At the completion of the undergraduate degree, an application to the Master of Science in Nursing is required. Admission is guaranteed to those who meet the admission requirements into the MSN.