Pursuing a second degree in nursing can be a life-changing decision towards a rewarding
career. By leveraging knowledge and experience from your first degree, our program
is a unique opportunity to build upon your existing skillset and experiences. We provide
you with a strong clinical foundation beginning in your first week of study. These
hands-on learning opportunities take place in our many clinical sites and state-of-the-art Learning and Simulation Center.
By the end of the program, you will be prepared to become a Registered Nurse (RN).
Our most recent class scored a 96.67% first-time pass rate on the NCLEX-RN licensure exam.
Attend a to learn more about the Second Degree BSN program and your next steps to enrollment.
Applications for Fall 2025 are now open - submit yours by June 1st, 2025.
Scholarships
All admitted second degree students receive scholarships. Scholarships are available
up to $30,000.
Gain Clinical Practice
Under the supervision of expert clinical faculty and nurse preceptors, you will gain
clinical experience at hospitals and community facilities throughout the Pittsburgh
area. These experiences are a great way to apply knowledge and theory gained in the
classroom to your clinical practice.
Program Information
Earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in 12 or 16 months through our accelerated
Second Degree BSN program. This onsite nursing program is for those who already have
a non-nursing bachelor's degree.
We will help you prepare to be successful on the NCLEX-RN exam, which you are eligible
to take after graduation for licensure as a registered nurse (RN). Our graduates who
tested in the 2023-2024 cycle achieved a 96.67% NCLEX-RN Exam first-time pass rate.
How Credits are Calculated
Transfer credits from your previous degree - 36 credits Prerequisites* taken for the Second Degree Program - 25 credits Credits taken at Â鶹ֱ²¥ School of Nursing in the Second Degree Program
- 67 credits Total Credits for the Second Degree Program - 128 credits
*Prerequisites may be completed at any accredited college or university, and online
coursework is acceptable. For example, we do accept credit from , which offers all prerequisite courses required for the Second Degree program.
12 or 16 Month Options
Students will complete 67 credits over 12-months in three semesters, or 67 credits
over 16-months to earn their Second Degree BSN in a slightly less intense schedule
of four semesters.
This course provides students with an introduction to professional nursing in today's
contemporary health care environment. The development of the student's identity as
a professional nurse is a focus of this course, presented within the context of the
history and evolution of the profession. This course also prepares the student for
beginning use of technology in the delivery of nursing care and how it impacts patient
care, as in integral part of contemporary practice. Included is an orientation to
the key issues in nursing practice, such as the legal ethical basis of nursing practice,
patient safety, nursing education, technology for problem-solving, and leadership.
- 3 credits; Fall Semester
This course introduces models of transcultural health care. Issues to the health care
professional's role in the delivery of culturally competent based health care are
explored. Emphasis is placed on the assessment and analysis of culturally congruent
care as related to clinical practice issues in the United States and globally. Interplay
between models of transcultural care and other models of clinical application of culturally
appropriate interventions are examined.
- 3 credits; Fall Semester
This course will focus on the concepts, skills, and attitudes fundamental to professional
nursing practice within a framework of clinical decision-making. The course will emphasize
critical thinking, the establishment of the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship,
and the development of the student’s beginning comprehension of the patient’s physiologic
and psychological responses to health and illness. Students will have lab experiences
in the Â鶹ֱ²¥ Nursing Learning Laboratory and clinical agencies where
fundamental nursing skills can be practiced. Students will also receive an introduction
to the main issues, views, laws, and policies within clinical ethics in order to build
a foundation for ethically sound nursing practice and the use of moral reasoning to
resolve ethical dilemmas that arise in practice.
- 6 credits; Fall Semester
This course focuses on the assessment of health status through the use of the Synergy
Model and the development of interviewing and physical examination skills. It will
begin with a discussion of optimal self-care behaviors and then focus on the principles
of health promotion, disease prevention and health teaching. The use of therapeutic
communication skills when performing health assessment and the assessment of cultural
and socio-economic aspects of health will be emphasized. Students learn to critically
evaluate assessment findings and differentiate between normal and alterations indicative
of actual or potential health problems. Students have lab experiences in the nursing
learning and simulation laboratory where health assessment skills can be practiced
in addition to the Community Based Health & Wellness Center for Older Adults.
- 4 credits; Fall Semester
This course explores the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of body systems throughout
the lifespan. Emphasis is on understanding pathophysiology as an alteration in normal
physiological functioning of individuals and the presentation of selected pathophysiology
and subsequent symptomatology in diverse individuals across the lifespan. The scientific
approach will provide understanding of the mechanisms of disease as they are related
to clinical decision-making for health promotion, risk reduction, and disease management.
- 3 credits; Fall Semester
This course will discuss the implications of the Human Genome Project and how to apply
genetic knowledge to patient knowledge and health promotion/screening in the following
ways: identifying those in need of genetic testing, offering genetic information,
recording genetic information, referring patients and families for further genetic
information and evaluation, advocacy for privacy, confidentiality, and non-discrimination
with regard to genetic information, and participate in management of patients with
genetic conditions. The ethical consideration as they relate to genetics will also
be explored.
- 3 credits; Fall Semester
This course will focus on nursing care of adults with common acute and chronic disease
processes. Emphasis will be placed on general medical and surgical conditions found
in the adult population. Students will apply knowledge from fundamentals in the management
of the common disease processes. The nursing care in these conditions will assist
the students in the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation process.
- 6 credits (4 theory/2 clinical); Spring Semester
This course covers the basic principles of pharmacology and drug therapy necessary
for general nursing practice. Concepts of drug effectiveness, pharmacokinetics, mechanism
of action, and drug interactions will be examined. In most cases, the emphasis will
be on the pharmacological action of drugs on specific organ systems. Throughout the
course, medications will be discussed in relation to their clinical use in the treatment
of specific disease conditions.
- 3 credits; Spring Semester
The course focus is on the development of competencies for safe and effective nursing
care of children and their families. Emphasis is on the nurse’s role in health assessment,
health promotion, and promotion of adaptive processes for the child within the context
of the family. Key concepts for social, cultural, economic, political, and ethical
factors that affect health promotion, disease prevention, alterations in health and
risk reduction for children, and the family are examined. Growth and development theory
is also emphasized.
- 3 credits (2 theory/1 clinical); Spring Semester
The course focus is on the development of competencies for safe and effective nursing
care of women and maternal/newborn dyads. Emphasis is on the nurse’s role in health
assessment, health promotion, and promotion of adaptive processes for the woman and
the infant within the context of the family. Key concepts for social, cultural, economic,
political, and ethical factors that affect health promotion, disease prevention, alterations
in health and risk reduction for women and the childbearing family are examined.
- 3 credits (2 theory/1 clinical); Spring Semester
This course focuses on an introduction to theory and concepts of behavioral health
nursing. Emphasis is on the use of self in relationships with mental health consumers.
The importance of the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship will provide the framework
for exploring the factors, which contribute to stress, maladaptive behavior, and mental
illness. Care will be delivered based on psychiatric standards of nursing practice.
The student will then explore the role of the behavioral health nurse working collaboratively
with the community as part of an interdisciplinary team. An introduction to conceptual
frameworks that focus on behavioral health care is included in both the classroom
and clinical portions of the course. Selected inpatient mental health settings will
be utilized for clinical practice.
- 3 credits (2 theory/1 clinical); Spring Semester
This course focuses on an introduction to theory and concepts of population health.
Emphasis is on the professional nurse's role in working with various populations as
the client. Care will be delivered based on standards of population health. The student
will then explore the role of the nurse working collaboratively within the community
and as part of an interdisciplinary team. An introduction to conceptual frameworks
that focus on population health will be included in both the classroom and clinical
portions of the course. Selected agencies that service the various populations will
be utilized for clinical practice.
- 3 credits (2 theory/1 clinical); Spring Semester
This course introduces undergraduate nursing students to ethical dimension of nursing
practice. It presents the processes of moral reasoning and ethical theories, values,
virtues, principles and other influences on the student’s capacity to recognize, identify
and respond to potential and actual ethical issues. The course examines contemporary
professional and clinical ethics issues that influence nursing practice, and to a
lesser degree, it introduces students to ethical issues at the organizational level
in health care. The relationships between ethical and legal principles are also examined.
Various models of ethical decision-making are explored as students apply these frameworks
to resolve ethical dilemmas. Students will also examine the role of professional codes
of ethics and the legal standards that influence the ethical practice of nurses. This
course is designated Writing Intensive. The course will thus involve a substantial
writing component in which students will write and revise argumentative essays in
the style of the discipline of healthcare ethics/bioethics. In their papers, students
will construct well-reasoned arguments for controversial ethical issues that arise
in health-care and nursing practice, and anticipate and respond to objections and
opposing arguments.
- 3 credits; Spring Semester
This course will focus on the assessment and management of adults with unstable and
complex system alterations. The course will emphasize the assessment of functioning,
adaptation, and recovery for patients with high acuity illnesses and clinical problems.
Selected sub-acute and high acuity acute care settings will be utilized for clinical
practice.
- 6 credits; Summer Semester
This course will introduce the student to nursing research and its application toward
advancing science and improving nursing practice. The course focuses on the use of
nursing theory for both qualitative and quantitative research as well as evidence
based practice to improve safe patient care. Recognizing the role of health information
technology in safe care of patients will be emphasized. Students will examine the
knowledge that guides nursing interventions, evidence based practice, outcomes research
and critique published research reports. The importance of research ethics and its
application in nursing practice will also be addressed.
- 3 credits; Summer Semester
This course serves as a preparation course to facilitate student transition into the
Role of a Professional Registered Nurse. The course will emphasize clinical judgment,
decision making and priority setting in the clinical environment as well as concepts
related to professional behavior. Emphasis will be placed on preparation for successful
completion of the NCLEX-RNCAT examination. A review of nursing knowledge from selected
content/concept areas will be included with clinical judgment and decision/prioritizing
skills stressed. Additionally, the course will focus on concepts related to professional
development such as professional behaviors, selfcare in stressful environments and
life-long learning.
- 3 credits; Summer Semester
This course is designed to provide experiences for students to advance their understanding
of content and develop problem solving skills as it relates to assessment, planning,
implementing and evaluating complex patient problems. Emphasis will be placed on the
most common acute and chronic medical and surgical conditions prevalent in the older
adult population. Complex cases will facilitate clinical reasoning in the care of
the adult with considerable focus on the older adult population.
- 3 credits; Summer Semester
This course will focus on the professional nurse’s role in applying the principles
of leadership and management in clinical environments. The role of the nurse leader
and his/her influence on safe nursing practice will be explored. Barriers to practice,
regulatory, legislative, and political processes in reference to professional practice
will also be examined. The course will also emphasize nursing leadership roles and
inter-professional collaboration in the development/application of technology to increase
efficiency of healthcare services and improve patient outcomes.