Nursing
About
We prepare students to become skilled, professional and compassionate RoyalRNs – bedside clinicians, advocates, scholars and leaders – in a supportive university community centered around Catholic and Jesuit values.
With a strong base in the liberal arts, we offer a holistic and global perspective on family- and patient-centered nursing care in a variety of clinical settings.
Why is Nursing in Demand?
- Research shows that health professions and related clinical sciences are in the top five college majors most in demand today (CareerBuilder.com).
- BSN-prepared nurses are highly sought after. Most clinical settings across the country are now requiring at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
- U.S. News & World Report lists nursing as one of the top-ranking jobs in healthcare.
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The projected growth of jobs for nurses is higher than that for most other professions. (Source: United States Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Is it for me?
Would you:
- Enjoy applying critical thinking to improve outcomes?
- Enjoy implementing research to facilitate change in healthcare practice?
- Enjoy working with others toward a common goal, while being compassionate and empathetic?
- Be receptive to change in a fast-paced environment?
Five Reasons to Choose Scranton for Nursing
The program offers so many opportunities and support for the students. I wouldn't trade my experience for anything.
Andrew Hill
Class of 2016
Preparing You For Personal & Professional Successplus or minus
You'll learn how to:
- Practice patient-centered care
- Function in interdisciplinary teams
- Use evidence in practice
- Use informatics in your profession
- Effectively put to work your empathy, care and compassion
- Advocate for others who cannot do so for themselves
- Work to improve health care delivery and patient safety
Active Learning
State-of-the-art simulation laboratories offer multiple hands-on learning opportunities beginning in the sophomore year and continuing throughout the nursing curriculum. There are multiple hands-on learning labs, two state-of-the-art simulation labs and the O.R. suites with simulation capability.
Clinical
There are opportunities in diverse settings, including: specialty hospital units, ICU, operating room, emergency department, inpatient, outpatient, healthcare clinics for the uninsured, community health centers, home care and hospice. Three of the hospitals are located just three blocks from campus.
Clinical Liaison Nurse Program
Throughout the program, undergraduate students have the opportunity to work bedside, with an expert clinical staff nurse.
Pediatrics
Students interested in pediatrics have the opportunity to travel to Philadelphia to spend time at a nationally- and internationally-recognized children’s hospital. They also spend time caring for children in daycare centers, community schools and emergency clinics.
The faculty are amazing and challenge us to be the best we can be. I feel prepared to start my career and I feel proud to call myself a Royal RN.
Amanda Daru
Class of 2016, Student Nurses Association President
What You'll Learnplus or minus
Curriculum
Requirements for nursing degrees involve both classroom courses and significant clinical/laboratory work for optimal learning outcomes.
For the BSN, students start their nursing education with biology and chemistry courses in their first year. They move on to the Fundamentals of Nursing and then begin taking courses in specialized areas ranging from nursing for mental health to pediatrics to community nursing.
Click here to see the curricula for all nursing degree programs.
Study Abroad
Where do our students go? We tell them they are only limited by their own imagination! Examples of recent study abroad trips include Italy, Australia, Spain, England, Ireland and South Africa. Students also have the opportunity to travel to Ireland for a Healthcare Policy course.
Externships
A high-level, shorter duration internship, externships are completed at prestigious hospitals nationwide. Our students have been selected for national externships at the following places:
- The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
- Lehigh Valley Hospital
- Memorial Sloan Kettering
- New York University Hospital
- Union Memorial Hospital
- Vanderbilt Medical Center
- Georgetown University Hospital
Direct-Entry Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program, with a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) specializationThis 21-month Master's degree program begins upon graduation from The University of Scranton with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Specific courses in the program, which consists of 36 graduate credits, may be able to be taken during senior year by working closely with an academic advisor.
The Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) specialization prepares registered nurses to assess, diagnose and treat common episodic and chronic disorders, and to provide health-promotion and disease-prevention interventions and counseling. Our program emphasizes the use of clinical decision-making and diagnostic reasoning skills. Students are prepared to provide direct patient care to individuals across the life span in primary care settings.
Pursue Your Passion and Make a Differenceplus or minus
To be a Royal RN is to be a nurse among the best. Our students practice in a university community that is engaged in Jesuit values. It is these values and a strong liberal arts education that sets our graduates apart. Nursing students are challenged in and out of the classroom to strive for excellence and provide genuinely compassionate, holistic care. Nursing students at Scranton aren’t only preparing to make a difference during their careers. They make a difference from the day they join our community by working directly with patients (along with professionals), and through service-learning and special projects.
For example, our students travel to communities of Newark, New Jersey, Appalachia, Kentucky, Los Angeles, California, and Savannah, Georgia, where they have worked within impoverished communities to provide health screenings and health education.
Our students have traveled internationally to Dominican Republic and Uganda and worked alongside nurses in hospitals and clinics.
During clinical experiences and other hands-on learning activities, nursing students work with patients under the supervision of professors. They perform hands-on assessments and care to patients in a supported, precepted environment.
Careers
Where will nursing take me?
Students enter the workplace armed with practical skills and experience. There is a wide variety of settings in which nursing skills are needed. Graduates may work in hospitals, rehabilitation facilities or nursing homes. They may work as school nurses or in other locations where people will potentially need care. They may work in private or group practices. Nurses are health advocates, researchers and educators. Opportunities to earn advanced credentials or graduate degrees are growing.
Top Graduate Schools
Some of the graduate schools that have admitted recent nursing graduates:
- The University of Scranton
- Villanova University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Columbia University
- Georgetown University
- Yale University
- St. Louis University
- New York University
Leading Employers:
Royal RN’s are sought after for jobs at some of the most prestigious hospitals and in private practices, hospices, nursing homes and community health centers, among other careers. Here is a list of just some of the top employers:
Community Health Systems:
- Regional Hospital
- Moses Taylor Hospital
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
- Geisinger Medical Center
- Hershey Medical Center
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
- Lehigh Valley Health Network
- Mount Sinai Hospital
- University of Maryland Medical Center
- Hahnemann University Hospital
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Duke University Medical Center
- Georgetown University Medical Center
How Scranton Gives You a Competitive Edge
Because of the extensive hands-on training, the transition to full-time employment as a nurse is seamless for most graduates. Through learning and practice experiences off-campus, students have developed professional contacts and have a clearer sense of where their interests and talents lie. The high volume of education and quality of experiences give our nursing students an edge in the job market.
Faculty get to know and work with students personally. They serve as mentors and celebrate their graduates’ success.
Accreditation
The baccalaureate degree program in nursing, master's degree program in nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice program and post-graduate APRN certificate program at The University of Scranton are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (ccneaccreditation.org).Take the Next Step
Get the Facts
For More Information
Office of Admissions
The Estate
Scranton, PA 18510
1-888-SCRANTON or (570) 941-7540
570-941-7572
admissions@scranton.edu
Nursing
Teresa Conte, Ph.D., CPNP
Chair, Department of Nursing
(570) 941-7673
teresa.conte@scranton.edu