Hartwick's Baccalaureate Program
Nursing Curriculum
Requirements for the Nursing Major
Clinical Preparation Requirements for all Nursing Majors
Examination for Licensure and Hartwick's Pass Rate
Hartwick's Baccalaureate Program
Preparation for a career in the rapidly changing field of nursing requires more than a specialized scientific training necessary for licensure. Nurses must understand people and the world in which they live. They must be excellent communicators, have analytical and decision-making skills and be prepared to assume positions of leadership in patient care and management. Professional competencies increasingly will be defined in terms of the application of critical thinking to a broad range of health problems in people in order to promote, maintain and restore high-level wellness. Completion of Hartwick's baccalaureate nursing program, as part of a broader liberal education, will enable students to acquire these skills in addition to the nursing skills they will need to practice in our high-tech, health-conscious society.
Nursing Curriculum
Hartwick's professional nursing curriculum begins with a foundation in the basic biological, natural, social and behavioral sciences. Electives in the humanities, required throughout the four-year academic program, complement the scientific and technical competencies required for professional practice. The professional component of the major program facilitates knowledge, attitude and skill adquisition essential to meet the complex patient care demands in a diversity of healthcare environments. In addition, the major program fosters the potential for leadership and a sense of professional awareness and responsibility. Clinical practice centers on health promotion, risk reduction, and illness and disease management in hospital as well as community-based agencies. By the senior year, the focus is on the development of leadership skills, research methodologies and professionalism. All courses in the freshman, sophomore and junior years are sequential. Many also are prerequisites to other courses. Each must be completed successfully in order for students to follow the planned sequence for the nursing major and before students may enter the senior year nursing sequence.
Requirements for the Nursing Major
Because of the special nature of the nursing curriculum, nursing majors must achieve a 2.0 cumulative average by the end of the freshman year in order to proceed into the sophomore year nursing curriculum. Students who do not achieve at least this average may petition the department to be considered on an individual basis for continuation in the program. Nursing as an applied science requires that each student demonstrate not only mastery of theoretical knowledge but also competency in the application of theory to practice of cognitive, effective and psychomotor skills. Nursing majors must successfully complete both the theoretical and laboratory portion of each nursing course in order to receive credit for the course.
Clinical Preparation Requirements for all Nursing Majors
Failure to meet these requirements will prohibit registration for fall semester courses.
Examination for Licensure and Hartwick's Pass Rate
Upon successful completion of Hartwick's major in nursing, students receive a B.S. degree in nursing and are qualified to write the NCLEX-RN examination for licensure as a registered professional nurse (R.N.).
Our graduates have a pass rate of 93% for the NCLEX-RN licensing examination.
