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R.N.—B.S.N. Curriculum

At IU South Bend, a minimum of 120 credit hours are required for the B.S.N.; 52 credit hours of general education, 33 credit hours of R.N.—B.S.N. nursing courses, and 35 credit hours of special credit for previous nursing coursework.

Degree Requirements (120 cr.)

All courses are 3 credit hours, unless otherwise designated.

General Education

A minimum of 52 credit hours in general-education courses are required for the R.N. in the B.S.N. degree completion program. Courses in addition to those required can be selected from the cluster course list available from an advisor. Courses from accredited schools can be transferred in and applied to the B.S.N. Submission of an official credit transfer report (CTR) to the School of Nursing is required for all work being transferred from another school. To obtain an official CTR, the student must request an official transcript from the other institution(s) to be forwarded to the IU South Bend Office of Admissions for evaluation. Each student record is individually evaluated for applicability of courses toward the campus general-education requirements and the B.S.N.

For a more detailed description of the IU South Bend general-education curriculum, including lists of approved courses, see pages 35-40 in this publication.

All courses certified as meeting the campuswide general-education requirements are designated in the Schedule of Classes or approved for transfer.

Campuswide Curriculum for Transfer Students (18 cr.)

Students who transfer to IU South Bend with 56 credit hours or more toward graduation are required to complete, at a minimum, one 300-level common core course at IU South Bend in any of the four areas with the advice of their major program. In addition, they are required to complete the campuswide general-education requirements in the fundamental literacies, Oral Communication, Computer Literacy, and Quantitative Reasoning; and one of the 3 credit hour contemporary social values courses in either Non-Western Cultures or Diversity in United States Society. See additional requirements for R.N.’s under this section.

Fundamental Literacies (12 cr.)

• Writing | ENG-W 131 Reading, Writing, and Inquiry I
• Critical Thinking | Waived for R.N.’s
• Oral Communication | SPCH-S 121 Public Speaking
• Visual Literacy | Waived for R.N.’s
• Quantitative Reasoning | Select one of the following (or its equivalent):

• MATH-K 300 Statistical Techniques for Health Professions
• NURS-H 355 Data Analysis/Practice and Research
• SOC-S 351 Social Statistics

• Information Literacy | Waived for R.N.s
• Computer Literacy | Waived for R.N.s

Common Core Courses (3 cr.)

R.N.’s complete one 300- or 399-level course from the following four areas, as designated in the Schedule of Classes.

• The Natural World | Select from approved course list
• Human Behavior and Social Institutions | Select from approved course list
• Literary and Intellectual Traditions | Select from approved course list
• Art, Aesthetics, and Creativity | Select from approved course list

Contemporary Social Values (3 cr.)

R.N.’s must complete one course from the following two areas, as designated in the Schedule of Classes.

• Non-Western Cultures | Select from approved course list
• Diversity in United States Society | Select from approved course list

Additional Requirements (40 cr. minimum)

• MICR-M 250 Microbial Cell Biology
• PHIL-P 140 Introduction to Ethics*
• PHSL-P 261 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 (5 cr.)
• PHSL-P 262 Human Anatomy and Physiology 2 (5 cr.)
• PSY-P 103 General Psychology
• SOC-S 161 Principles of Sociology
• Electives from cluster course list

If anatomy, physiology, and microbiology courses total less than 12 credit hours, or if microbiology was not required by the R.N.-granting program, a biologically-based science course is required. Courses should be equivalent to the listed courses. Credit hours may vary.

Nursing Course Requirements (30 cr.)

• NURS-B 304 Health Policy
• NURS-B 331 Transition to Baccalaureate Nursing Practice
• NURS-B 404 Informatics
• NURS-H 355 Data Analysis/Practice and Research
• NURS-H 365 Nursing Research
• NURS-R 470 Clinical Baccalaureate Nursing Capstone
• NURS-S 474  Applied Health Care Ethics
• NURS-S 475 A MultiSystem Approach to the Health of the Community R.N.-B.S.N.
• NURS-S 487 Nursing Management R.N.-B.S.N.

Nursing Electives

Select two of the following:

• NURS-B 344 Comprehensive Nursing Health Assessment
• NURS-K 301 Complementary Health Therapies
• NURS-K 304 Nursing Specialty Elective
• NURS-K 305 New Innovations in Health and Health Care   
• NURS-K499 Genetics and Genomics
• NURS-P 345 Pharmacology for Professional Nursing Practice

Prior Learning Credits

A total of 35 credit hours of B.S.N. nursing courses are credentialed through special credit awards for nursing courses from the R.N.’s accredited Nursing Program. These are placed on the transcript upon successful completion of NURS-B 304 Health Policy and NURS-B 404 Professional Nursing Seminar 2: Informatics. The R.N.-B.S.N. Program values prior learning and seeks to develop and maintain a process for assessing/validating/evaluating prior learning in order to award course credit or exemption for undergraduate nursing courses through the portfolio process.

The elective course NURS-K 304 Nursing Specialty Elective can be used to award credit for having or obtaining national nursing certification.

Photo credit | Teresa Sheppard