What it’s about:

This major prepares students to be frontline providers of health care. Registered nurses design, manage, and coordinate care for individuals, families, groups, communities, and larger populations. Nursing students learn how to attend to the sick and the injured; how to rehabilitate, counsel, and educate patients; and how to work as part of a health care team in many settings.

What the study of this major is like:

Generally, you take courses in English, social sciences, the humanities, and the natural sciences during your first two years as a major. In your nursing program, you apply your education in liberal arts and sciences to learn the principles of nursing theory. You evaluate research to determine its benefit to nursing practice; examine nurse-client relationships and the organization of health care delivery; study ethical and practical issues related to terminal illness and death; and examine ways of providing health promotion services and illness care to culturally diverse communities.

Some programs require a fourth-year internship in which you receive academic credit while gaining clinical experience. You may work (under supervision) in hospitals, long-term care facilities, schools, community health organizations, mental health/psychiatric institutions, and other settings. There may also be opportunities for paid summer work experience.

Source: CollegeBoard 2012 Book of Majors

You do not specialize at the undergraduate level. Graduates of nursing programs are generalists, able to assume roles in acute care, long-term care, and community-based facilities. After completing your undergraduate degree, you must pass the National Council Licensing Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) in order to work in the field.

Perhaps the biggest surprise for beginning students in nursing is the intensity and rigor of the subject matter and clinical practice requirements. Because nurses, who often work independently, must be responsible and accountable, they are expected to master a great deal of specialized (often technical) knowledge and theory.

Being a nursing major requires time management and a commitment to long hours of both course work and clinical practice. Usually you will need to study for several hours for every hour of class time. Clinical practice generally involves 16 hours a week of work in a variety of health care settings. Before and after clinical practice, you develop case studies, care plans, and education projects related to your client population. Also, early in your studies, you must begin preparation for the NCLEX-RN exam.

Programs can grant an associate degree in nursing (A.D.N.) or a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing (B.S.N.). For an A.D.N. (usually from a community college), you complete the program in two to three years and are prepared for entry-level registered nurse practice at the bedside.

The four-year B.S.N. prepares you to work in the full range of health care setting, including hospitals; critical care, long-term care, rehabilitation, outpatient care, public health, community health, and mental health facilities; private homes; and neighbourhood clinics. It also prepares you for graduate work. In addition to the liberal arts and sciences courses, B.S.N. programs feature more in-depth nursing courses, including theory, research, pharmacology, pathophysiology, physical assessment, and nutrition. You also receive training in specific areas such community and public health nursing, medical-surgical nursing, maternal-child nursing, pediatric nursing, mental health nursing, and nursing leadership and management.

Career options and trends:

Advanced nurse practitioner*; nurse educator*; clinical nurse specialist; nurse anesthetise; nurse mid-wife; nurse researcher; nurse administrator*.

For advanced or specialty practice, a bachelor’s or master’s degree and certification based on examination and clinical practice requirements are essential.

The United States is in the midst of a national nursing shortage that is projected to intensify as the population ages and the demand for new health care services and technologies increases. It is anticipated that by the year 2020, there will be a severe shortage (more than 800,00RNs) in the number of nurses needed in the nation’s health care system.

Source: CollegeBoard 2012 Book of Majors