The Broward College Nursing Program graduates approximately 250 to 300 students annually. The completion rate of 58% of students finishes the program within 150% of the expected length of the program.

Job Outlook
Job prospects for registered nurses are projected to increase by 26 percent from 2010 to 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Growth will occur primarily because of technological advancements; an increased emphasis on preventative care; and the large, aging baby-boomer population who will demand more healthcare services as they live longer and more active lives. The estimated median annual wage for Registered Nurses is $70,490 (source: Florida Labor Market Statistics).

Career Paths for Nurses

NCLEX Disclosure (PDF)

Graduates who meet all educational and institutional requirements are awarded an Associate of Science degree in Nursing from Broward College and are eligible to have their name submitted to the Florida Board of Nursing for consideration as a candidate for the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). Our graduates have consistently exceeded the national and state average pass rate on the RN Licensing exam.

Nursing graduates of Broward College who successfully obtain a Registered Nurse License generally seek employment in the healthcare community within:

• Post-Acute Care facilities
• Level 1 Trauma Centers
• General medical/surgical hospitals
• Home health care services

Find local nursing jobs

If you wish to continue your education and pursue a bachelor's degree in nursing, you can do so affordably at Broward College with the RN-BSN program.

Learn more about getting a bachelor's in Nursing

Nursing students are expected to adhere to performance standards. In order to succeed in this program and in a professional healthcare setting, you should:

• Be an ethical individual
• Have critical thinking skills
• Demonstrate strength/stamina capability
• Show responsible behavioral and social standards
• Possess excellent interpersonal communication skills
• Have full sensorimotor capabilities (auditory, visual, tactile)

Registered nurses typically perform the following:

• Give patients medicines and treatments
• Delegate and manage healthcare teams
• Operate and monitor medical equipment
• Observe patients and record the observations
• Help perform diagnostic tests and analyze results
• Consult with doctors and other healthcare professionals
• Set up plans for patient's care or contribute to existing plans
• Records patient's medical histories, patient care, and symptoms.
• Teach patients and their families how to manage their illnesses or injuries
• Discharge planning and explaining what to do at home after a treatment
• Identify cause-effect relationships in clinical situations and develop nursing care plans

Performance Standards

Below are the Performance Standards for the Department of Nursing. In order to ensure the safety of both you and your patients, you must be able to meet these Performance Standards to enter and remain in the program. Students whose physical examination indicates they may not be able to meet the standards may be required to obtain further documentation from a physician in order to enroll/remain in the program. If the Performance Standards cannot be met with reasonable accommodations, you may not continue in the program.

Job Description

Nursing is a practice discipline requiring cognitive, sensory, affective, and psychomotor performance requirements. The registered nurse is responsible for the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of clients in a variety of healthcare settings.

Position Requirements

1. Education
   1. Graduate of a nursing program with a diploma in nursing, Associate of Science Degree in Nursing (AS), or Baccalaureate of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN).
   2. State licensure upon passing the national NCLEX examination.
2. Physical Requirements
   1. Technical/motor skills
      1. The student must possess gross and fine motor abilities sufficient to provide safe and effective nursing care including the ability to assist with positioning clients, standing and walking for extended periods of time, and physical abilities sufficient to move from room to room and maneuver in client rooms, work, and treatment areas.
      2. The motor skills of stooping, kneeling, crouching, crawling, reaching, handling, and fingering may all be required in providing safe, effective nursing care.
      3. Medium work is defined as lifting 50 pounds maximum with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 25 pounds. The student must possess fine motor fingering abilities sufficient to calibrate and use the equipment.
3. Sensory
   1. Auditory ability is sufficient to monitor and assess health care needs including but not limited to, hearing monitor alarms, emergency signals, auscultatory sounds, and verbal communication.
   2. Visual ability is sufficient for assessing and observing the client and environment including near and far acuity, depth perception, visual fields, and color vision.
   3. Tactile ability is sufficient for physical assessment such as temperature, texture, size, and shape. The ability to perform therapeutic interventions with equipment.
4. Mental
   1. Communication
      1. The student must possess sufficient communication skills to interact effectively with others in verbal and written form.
      2. The students must be able to explain treatment procedures, provide health teaching, and assess and plan nursing care.
   2. Interpersonal Relationships
      1. The student must possess sufficient IPR to establish rapport with clients, families, and colleagues from a variety of social, economic, cultural, and intellectual backgrounds.
      2. The student must respect client/family confidentiality.
   3. Critical Thinking
      1. The student must be able to identify cause-effect relationships in order to make judgments and set priorities in clinical situations.
5. Exposure to Hazards
   1. Students may be exposed to infectious blood and body fluids during clinical experiences.
   2. The use of personal protective equipment including rubber gloves, gowns, goggles, and masks is required per OSHA regulations and is supplied by the facility. Students are required to follow agency policies concerning universal precautions.

All nursing faculty are currently licensed to practice as Registered Nurses in the State of Florida. Many hold a dual license to practice as an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) and hold additional professional certifications with a minimum of a Master's Degree.

The nursing faculty at BC initially requires three years or more of clinical experience in the acute care setting. The majority of the adjunct faculty continue to be employed in the healthcare setting as a Registered Nurse.

Nursing Program Curriculum Options Offered

The Nursing Program currently offers two full-time program options for the Associate of Science Degree in Nursing: The Generic Option and the LPN-RN Transition Option.

The LPN-RN Transition Option is a curriculum for those students who already hold a current Florida Practical Nursing License without restrictions or public complaint. The LPN-RN Transition program recognizes the Florida Licensed Practical Nurse's knowledge and skill level and provides them the opportunity to receive experiential learning credits for Nursing Process I/II (Fundamentals of Nursing) and the specialty lab nursing courses.

The Generic Program Option is offered in the traditional classroom setting. It is a curriculum for student applicants who have no previous nursing education.

The Part-Time Generic Option is offered in a traditional classroom setting but on a part-time schedule beginning every January. It is geared toward the student desiring to attend the BC Nursing Program while still being able to work.

• Theory classes will be offered one night per week from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.
• Clinical courses will be held on a weekend day
• Admission criteria are the same as for the full-time ASN program
• Application deadline is July 15 - September 17 (Subject to change due to availability)

Nursing Program Mission Statement
The mission of the Broward College Nursing Program is to prepare competent, compassionate, and culturally sensitive entry-level nursing graduates whose professional practice encompasses legal and ethical decision-making. The Department of Nursing is committed to providing a nursing program that is accessible to a diverse community of learners. Delivered by a dedicated Faculty, the program provides a collaborative teaching-learning environment to promote critical thinking, lifelong learning, and a positive role in a changing and global society across the lifespan. The program is committed to accomplishing this mission through the use of effective and diverse instructional methods that encompass both traditional as well as technology-based strategies.

Nursing Program Philosophy
The philosophy of the Broward College Associate of Science Degree in Nursing Program is built on the foundation of the meta-paradigm concepts and constructs of human being/person, health, environment, and nurse/nursing within the associate degree program competencies of human flourishing, nursing judgment, professional identity, and spirit of inquiry which the faculty believe to be the unifying core for the profession of nursing.

Human Being/Person
The faculty believes that every human is a unique being with inherent dignity, value, rights, and worth. Each person has complex and dynamic biological, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual dimensions that are in constant interaction with the environment. Each person is the synergy of unique and complex attributes, values, and behaviors with physical, psychological, social, aesthetic, and spiritual needs that must be met if s/he is to survive, develop, and grow holistically and achieve self-actualization. Each person has unique abilities, characteristics, resources, experiences, social norms, and moral and ethical constructs that guide independent and collaborative decision-making regarding health issues and care choices within the context of the wellness-illness continuum.

The person within the meta-paradigm is defined as a patient and/or client who may be an individual, family, aggregate, community, or population and whose needs are met holistically by nursing in a variety of settings. Personhood includes the inner conception of who s/he is and the collective conception of who they are, and these concepts are shaped by diverse cultures; family; politics; and social, economic, and global environmental and healthcare systems.

Health
The faculty believes that health is a reflection of the person's physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual human flourishing. Health is a dynamic state that encompasses many processes: promoting and maintaining health, preventing illness, recovery from illness, dying with dignity, and the role of family, culture, and community in a person's development. Health is individually perceived and determined by biophysical, psychosocial, spiritual, and transcultural dimensions across the lifespan. Health is influenced by one's inherent capabilities, developmental stages, values, and beliefs. Each person has the right and the ability to manage health and healthcare choices through collaborative processes and interface with healthcare systems, resulting in informed health decisions and shared accountability for outcomes. The nurse acts as an advocate with a patient-centered approach promoting self-determination and autonomy, empowering persons to make competent, evidence-based healthcare decisions and actions across the lifespan while coordinating the transition of the patient through all levels of care.

Environment
The faculty believes that environment is the physiological, psychosocial, cultural, philosophical, developmental, and spiritual conditions and forces that impact the health, life, and development of a person and/or group in the global environment. Internal and external environmental conditions and forces continually change, interconnect, and interact, forming the complex context for holistic nursing practice. Within this context, the nurse communicates and collaborates with the person to promote positive outcomes, assess the environment at the level its impact is perceived by the person, manage its constraints, utilize its resources to promote health, and value community empowerment and social justice. The nurse provides professional support, protective, and/or corrective modifications to the environment working to improve social conditions affecting health. Respecting the values, customs, culture, and unique responses of the person to and within the environment the nurse acts in accordance with ethical, legal, and regulatory requirements.

Nursing
The faculty believes that nursing is a discipline incorporating evolving core values and perspectives integral to nursing in which the holistic needs of the person are met in a variety of settings. The body of knowledge that serves as the rationale for nursing practice and is held to be of most value in the discipline of nursing includes (1) empirics, the science of nursing; (2) esthetics, the art of nursing; (3) the component of personal knowledge in nursing; and (4) ethics, the component of moral knowledge in nursing. The professional identity of nursing is situated, practice-oriented, person-centered collaborative caring, guided by ethical decision-making, and shaped by internal and external environments as well as social, political, professional, and economic systems. Nursing is grounded within a framework of compassionate caring, civility and inclusion, critical thinking based on the nursing process, ethical reasoning, evidence-based clinical and technological competencies, and applications, professionalism, and supportive interpersonal processes. This framework of nursing is guided by nursing regulations, standards of practice, and the ACEN Core Components (ACEN, 2013).

The mission of nursing is to provide for the holistic healthcare needs of persons in their communities; to mediate as an advocate between persons and systems; and to deliver culturally competent care based on the sound nursing judgment that honors diversity, informed decision-making, and human dignity. Facilitating communication, teamwork, and continuity of care within and across settings and life experiences, nurses promote positive health outcomes, excellence, and the advancement of the nursing profession.

Within the totality of nursing practice, the registered nurse with an associate degree in Nursing functions professionally in a wide range of healthcare settings, as a provider of safe, quality care, manager of care, and member of the discipline of nursing. The nurse responds to the full range of the health continuum using evidence-based judgments in practice professionally working in and with diverse groups. Using evidence-based decisions, the nursing process, and contemporary clinical, relational, and leadership competencies, the nurse delivers ethical, compassionate, and collaborative care reflecting integrity and responsibility directed toward the promotion of positive outcomes, improvement processes, and professional growth. The associate degree nursing graduate uses their knowledge and skills to enhance human flourishing for patients, communities, and self; and approaches all issues and problems in the spirit of inquiry using sound nursing judgment to continually develop a professional identity. Faculty beliefs on teaching, learning, and nursing education.

Teaching-learning is those goal-directed processes involved in the transmission and assimilation of information in order to expand knowledge and change behaviors. Learning is a life-long endeavor that provides an opportunity for the enrichment of life and the ability to contribute meaningfully as a responsible citizen in diverse, local, and global communities. Learning enhances the individual's development as a positive role model and informed creative decision-maker and gives the learner an awareness of global and cultural perspectives so that s/he is capable of contributing to a dynamic knowledge and service-based global society in a socially responsible manner. The teaching-learning process is facilitated through planned sequences of experiences and by actively involving the learner in goal-directed activities that are perceived as having purpose and meaning that allow the student to develop an ever-widening lens of understanding and expanding repertoire of dynamic response patterns. Teaching is the facilitation of learning and inherently requires the valuing of the learner as a unique, dynamically complex person. Teaching is a collaborative process whereby students are empowered to develop critical-thinking skills to be safe, competent practitioners and view unfolding, complex situations from multiple perspectives and apply different interpretive schemes.

The teacher is the catalyst in the student's ability to explore, understand, communicate, and integrate innovative concepts, while the student is ultimately responsible for his or her own learning. Faculty and students share the responsibility for creating a caring, educational climate that fosters caring, mutual respect, civility, integrity, honesty, intellectual inquiry, critical thinking, creativity, accountability, and effective communication to assume positive, professional roles in a changing society. Faculty provides the learner with the resources, technologies, opportunities for learning, and guidance. Functioning as resource persons and role models and guided by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) core competencies for nurse educators, the faculty create environments that encourage the acquisition of knowledge and insights; self-direction; deliberate, informed practice, and ethical comportment; quality and safety initiatives; the core values of caring, diversity, excellence, integrity, ethics, holism, and patient-centeredness; and motivation for life-long learning within the nursing profession. The learning environments that are created consider and value the diversity in age, life experiences, culture, and educational needs of the individual learners and provide opportunities for student participation and educational goal attainment as well as an impetus for curricular development.

Nursing education is structured to teach the art, science, ethics, and personal knowledge of nursing and is the process by which individual learners are socialized into the profession of nursing. To facilitate different modes of learning: classrooms, simulated laboratories, informatics, and a variety of culturally diverse health care settings are used. These learning environments foster professionalism; creativity and innovation; effective ethical decision-making models; leadership; communication and team dynamics; a culture of safety; teaching, managing, and coordinating all levels of care; competency in practice based on evidence and best practices; legal/ethical accountability and advocacy; caring abilities that honor individuals, colleagues, families, and groups; system effectiveness; and a commitment to self-reflection, self-actualization, and life-long learning. A systematic plan of evaluation monitors the teaching-learning process, attainment of the program outcomes, and program integrity.

The End of Program Students Learning Outcomes (PDF)

References
Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing [ACEN] (2013). Outcomes and competencies for graduates of practical/vocational, diploma, associate degree, baccalaureate, master's, practice doctorate, and research doctorate programs in nursing. New York: Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing.
National League for Nursing [NLN] (2005).The scope of practice for academic nurse educators.
New York: National League for Nursing.