2022-2023 Catalogue

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

General Policies and Procedures. Nursing students are subject to all general policies and procedures of Wesleyan College. Nursing students are eligible to participate in all academic and social activities enjoyed by all Wesleyan College students. The student must be aware that nursing courses may require day, evening, night, and weekend attendance in course work or clinical activities. Students should discuss any proposed outside activities with the nursing faculty prior to the beginning of the course.

Unless otherwise indicated, policies and procedures for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree are the same as for the Bachelor of Arts. It is the student's responsibility to review and adhere to this Catalogue and the Nursing student handbook.

Accreditation. The Wesleyan College Bachelor of Science in Nursing program has Full Approval from the Georgia Board of Nursing.

The baccalaureate degree in nursing program at Wesleyan College is accredited by Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), https://www.aacnnursing.org/ccne-accreditation.

The Nursing Program. The Wesleyan College Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree offers qualified students a two year rigorous liberal arts foundation, followed by a unique two-year nursing curriculum that focuses on holistic nursing. This includes a variety of clinical practice experiences designed to prepare graduates for successful careers in nursing. Courses will show evidence of multiple teaching strategies and varied clinical practice opportunities throughout the program.

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing is a four-year traditional degree program that prepares a nurse generalist for practice and leadership in the role of professional nurse in a variety of health care settings and specialties. Graduates are eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) for Registered Nurses for entry into practice in any state. This broad-based program is built upon courses in the humanities, fine arts, mathematics, sciences, and social and behavioral studies. The program conforms to standards set by the Georgia Board of Nursing and the CCNE. The curriculum is designed to prepare graduates to enter a master's program of study in nursing.

Students who intend to complete the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program should express their interest to the nursing division prior to matriculation at Wesleyan College or as soon as possible thereafter so that they can be advised to take appropriate pre-nursing courses.

Students who have questions or who seek clarification concerning policies and/or procedures should contact the nursing division.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Admission. Admission to Wesleyan College does not guarantee admission to the Nursing Program leading to the BSN degree. Students may apply to the nursing program in October - April 1st for fall cohort. Applications completed after the deadline will be reviewed on a space-available basis. Students admitted to the major program in nursing (the NUR 60-hour block taught in the third and fourth years of the program) complete their last two years of the four-year degree program in a full-time COHORT format. 

Minimum criteria for admission to the Nursing Program:

• admission to Wesleyan College.
• completion of all concentration classes or their equivalents; or have no more than six hours of required proficiency and general education classes outstanding.
• must have a minimum overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 and a minimum GPA of 3.0 in  all pre-nursing general education core and concentration classes, all attempts within five years of starting the program are included. Students falling below a GPA of 3.0 will be reviewed on a case by case basis.
• official Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) exam score (latest edition) reflecting a 75 or higher composite score.
• good academic standing at Wesleyan College.
• a grade of "C" or higher in pre-nursing Math, Science, and Psychology courses, all attempts within five years of starting the program are included.
• by application deadline, 5 of 7 pre-nursing math and science courses must be completed.
• submission of the Nursing Program Student Application.

Additional admission policies notes:

• Pre-nursing courses will be evaluated by the Registrar to determine which courses are the equivalents of Wesleyan's pre-nursing curriculum. Credit will be considered from institutions accredited by the following agencies:

  Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) Western Association of Schools and Colleges

  Higher Learning Commission (HLC)

  Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)

  New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE)

  Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)

  Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)

  WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC)

Credit from an institution of higher education accredited by an institutional accreditor not listed above will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

• A student's last human anatomy and physiology course taken more than five years before beginning the nursing program at Wesleyan College will not satisfy the pre-nursing course requirements. At the discretion of the relevant department chair, students may elect to challenge by examination Wesleyan's human anatomy and physiology courses. Challenge examinations are graded on a credit/no credit option; in order for credit to be granted for a pre-nursing course, an examination grade of 70 or higher must be obtained.
• Nursing courses completed at another institution will not be accepted by Wesleyan College.
• A student who has earned a "D" or below on two or more nursing classes at another institution is ineligible to apply for the program.
• Any remaining general education classes must be completed before enrolling in senior level nursing courses.

• Students who have previously earned a baccalaureate degree from an institution of higher education accredited by an institutional accreditor, in the United States may apply to the program. Baccalaureate degrees that are applied in nature or are from an institution outside the United States will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
• Students with prior baccalaureate degrees are required to complete the following courses, or their equivalents, pre-nursing courses with a minimum GPA of 3.00: PSY 101, BIO 103/110, CHM 100/101, MAT 130, MAT 220, BIO 210, BIO 211, BIO 245, and PSY 240.

Once a student has been accepted for admission to the BSN Nursing Program, the following requirements for enrollment must be completed:

• Submit a nonrefundable reservation deposit of $200 to reserve a place in the class.
• Satisfactory completion of health requirements including a complete health history, current physical examination, current immunizations (measles, rubella, varicella, hepatitis B, and influenza), and tuberculosis screening. Also any other vaccinations required by the clinical facilities.
• Provide proof of health insurance or purchase health insurance through Wesleyan College.
• Complete and pass criminal background check and negative urine drug screening. Negative urine drug screening, a negative dilute is considered a positive drug screen.
• All students are required to take American Heart Association CPR for Health Care Providers certification.
• Clinical practice requirement involve costs not covered by tuition, room and board and will be the responsibility of the student.

Requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing: 120 semester hours

I. The student must satisfy proficiency in writing and mathematics.

Proficiency Requirement:

1. Writing: (0-3 hours): WRI 100 or WRI 101 (must be taken in first or second semester) or met via student assessment. 

2. Mathematics: (0-3 hours): Placement into MAT 140 or higher; if student does not receive this placement, then MAT 130 must be taken. (Students who do not have Sophomore standing or above must meet this requirement before enrolling in BIO 110.)

3. Students who do not pass WRI 100 or WRI 101 with a D or better must retake the course the following semester.

4. Students transferring credit for the equivalent of ENG 101 or ENG 102 do not need to enroll in WRI 100/101. However, if their SAT Evidence-Based Reading & Writing score is below 510 or their composite ACT score is below 19, they are strongly encouraged to take the course.

II. The student must complete the General Education requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Students earning an Associate of Art's degree from an institution of higher education accredited by an agency listed above does not have to take additional general education courses at Wesleyan College to earn the bachelor's degree. Associate of Science degrees are reviewed on a case by case basis. Associate’s degrees from an institution of higher education accredited by an institutional accreditor not listed above are reviewed for waiver on a case by case basis. All course prerequisites for admission to the Nursing Program must still be met. While the course requirements vary slightly from the general education requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree, students who complete the Bachelor of Science in Nursing achieve the same General Education outcomes as those who complete the Bachelor of Arts. For more detail on the General Education requirements, refer to the Bachelor of Arts General Education section.

To fulfill distribution requirements of Exploring Domains of Knowledge and Synthesizing Perspectives categories, students must complete credit hours from each of the Academic Divisions: 3 hours from Fine Arts; 6 hours from Humanities, different prefixes; 8 hours from Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and 3 hours from Social & Behavioral Sciences/Professional Studies (must be PSY 101). Note: In addition to the requirements listed above, the BSN requires two additional courses, totaling 6 hours, which may be fulfilled by any General Education courses (see Bachelor of Arts General Education section for a full list of such courses).

A. Foundation Building: The Wesleyan Integrated Seminar Experience (1 course).

B. Foundation Building: Writing, Speaking, and Quantitative Reasoning (3 courses). To develop and strengthen skills in writing, oral communication, and quantitative reasoning, each student is required to complete one 3-4 hour course in each of these three areas.

Writing

The Writing Foundation Building course, ENG 101, ensures that students learn to write clearly and correctly to convey their ideas to a variety of professional and academic audiences. It stresses the importance of proper source use, clear argumentation, and an understanding of basic rhetorical formats and professional style guides, such as MLA and APA. Because students will benefit from learning research writing skills early in their academic careers, ENG 101 must be completed within a student's first 30 hours at Wesleyan. Upon completing this requirement, students will demonstrate the ability to 1) incorporate material from credible and relevant sources to support or extend ideas and 2) use appropriate and relevant content and language to develop ideas.

Students who do not meet writing proficiency must successfully complete WRI 101 before they can take ENG 101 and fulfill the Writing Foundation Building requirement. Those students must enroll in WRI 101 in one of their first two semesters.

Speaking

The Speaking Foundation Building requirement is designed to develop in students the ability to think critically, reason soundly, and evaluate evidence correctly. In addition, students should learn to organize information coherently, articulate content clearly, deliver ideas effectively, listen to others appropriately, and engage in constructive discussion and debate in a variety of interpersonal, group, and public contexts. Upon completing this requirement, students will demonstrate the ability to 1) deliver content in an organized, understandable, and compelling way tailored to audience, occasion, and event and 2) use evidence to develop and support claims in an organized way.

Students will fulfill the Speaking requirement by earning or receiving credit for one of the following:

Quantitative Reasoning 

*MAT 220 Statistical Methods (3)

C. Exploring Domains of Knowledge: (5 courses). All Wesleyan students will be exposed to domains of knowledge from different disciplines. The Exploring courses meet the following learning objectives and students will fulfill the Exploring requirement by earning or receiving credit for one of the following in all objectives: 

Historical events and phenomena (1 course): how current thought, actions, and behaviors are informed by historical events and phenomena. Upon completing this objective, students will demonstrate the ability to 1) analyze change and continuity in the development of a particular historical event, behavior, or phenomenon and 2) explain the connection between a current event, behavior, or phenomenon and an event or series of events in the past.

Natural world (2 courses): how the natural world functions. Upon completing this objective, students will demonstrate the ability to 1) use empirical evidence to analyze or explain natural phenomena and 2) test hypotheses in a laboratory setting.

Individuals and communities (2 courses): how individuals function and interact within and among communities. Upon completing this objective, students will demonstrate the ability to 1) analyze how individual and social processes and behaviors shape specific institutions, policies or outcomes and 2) evaluate ethical and moral positions that shape individual or group decisions.

D. Synthesizing Perspectives: (2 courses). In addition to building a foundation of knowledge from various disciplines by taking four Exploring courses, each student develops depth of knowledge outside of her major discipline by completing three Synthesizing Perspectives courses. These courses also act as a bridge to help prepare students for the senior integrative experience. In addition to focusing on either women's experiences or a diverse and interdependent world, these courses will also contain a synthesizing element that will give special attention to critical thinking skills. Critical thinking courses allow students to establish expertise in the various techniques of acquiring, organizing, analyzing, interpreting, applying, evaluating, manipulating, and presenting information from a variety of sources. These sources may include texts of information that may be written, visual, or oral. The student will apply these techniques in courses that are writing and discussion intensive. The Synthesizing Perspectives courses meet the following learning objectives and students will fulfill the requirement by earning or receiving credit for at least one course from each category below:

Women’s experiences: how women's experiences are shaped by such factors as age, class, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, and sexuality. Upon completing this objective, students will demonstrate the ability to 1) compare gender expectations over time and across cultures; 2) analyze issues pertaining to one or more of the factors shaping women’s experiences; and 3) analyze an issue comprehensively from multiple disciplinary perspectives.

NUR 406 Holistic Nursing VI: Women's Health and Pediatric Nursing - Nursing (this course is required and is taken during the Nursing Program)

Diverse and interdependent world: how living in a diverse and interdependent world presents both challenges and opportunities. Upon completing this objective, students will demonstrate the ability to 1) identify issues arising from increasingly complex global connections; 2) communicate and interact effectively across cultures; and 3) analyze an issue comprehensively from multiple disciplinary perspectives.

*Indicates required courses.

F. Additional credits for BSN (2 Courses): Two General Education courses (6 hours) not already taken to satisfy the preceding requirements

III. Required Nursing (NUR) Courses: 60 hours

Note: These courses are open only to those students admitted to the BSN degree program. The student will take these courses in the 3rd (junior) and 4th (senior) years of the program.

IV. Professional Development: To experience how the liberal arts education provides a foundation for future professional success, establish academic, personal, and professional goals; and develop and demonstrate tools and strategies for personal and professional growth, each student will participate in a Professional Development Experience (PDE) during NUR 415 Holistic Nursing VIII- Capstone Nursing Practicum. Each student will also create and ePortfolio to document and reflect upon her learning experiences as they relate to career and professional goals. The ePortfolio will include several required learning modules, in addition to any other items the student may want to incorporate. Students will share the completed ePortfolio with her faculty advisor prior to graduation.

V. Academic Electives: 0-10 hours. The student may select, with the assistance of her academic advisor, elective courses from any department acceptable toward her degree.

VI. The student must complete 120 semester hours (or the equivalent) with a cumulative grade point average of C (2.00) or higher and a grade point average of 2.00 in the major and 2.00 in the minor if the student elects a minor.

Notes:

1. With the exception of WISe, science, and foreign language courses, most other prerequisites are offered every semester or year.
2. CHM 101 requires MAT 130 (College Algebra) or placement at the MAT 140 (Precalculus Mathematics) level or higher.
3. Students whose SAT-M score is <580 will be advised not to take CHM 101 and BIO 110 at the same time.
4. If required to meet proficiency, WRI 101 must be taken during the first or second semester of enrollment.
5. Each student will take a mathematics assessment prior to enrollment to determine whether or not she must take MAT 130. If it is determined that the student must take MAT 130, she must take the course during the first semester of enrollment.
6. Curriculum development and revision is an ongoing process and changes may be made as needed.

Additional Notes for Transfer Students:

1. Transfer students are exempt from the WIS 101 requirement.

2. A student's last human anatomy and physiology course taken more than five years before beginning nursing program at Wesleyan College will not satisfy the pre-nursing course requirements. At the discretion of the relevant department chair, students may elect to challenge by examination Wesleyan's human anatomy and physiology courses. Challenge examinations are graded on a credit/ no credit option; in order for credit to be granted for pre-nursing an examination grade of 70 or higher must be obtained.

3. Students may request the substitution of BIO 112: Principles of Biology II - Diversity of Biological Systems (4) for CHM 101: General Chemistry I (4).

Clinical Practice Requirements. Nursing courses will require varied clinical practice opportunities throughout the program. These practice settings are located in and around Middle Georgia area and will be scheduled at various times, including nights, evenings and weekends. Students must have their own transportation to the clinical practice settings.

Prior to participating in a clinical experience, each student must provide documentation of the following:

• Annually: satisfactory completion of health requirements including a complete health history, current physical examination, current immunizations (measles, rubella, varicella, hepatitis B, and influenza), and tuberculosis screening. Also any other vaccinations required by the clinical facilities. Failure to provide this evidence will result in exclusion from clinical sites and thus a clinical failure.
• Annually: Negative urine drug screening, a negative dilute is considered a positive drug screen.
• Annually: Personal health insurance
• Annually: Satisfactory results of criminal background check.  Background checks or positive urine drug screen could result in denial to the clinical site and inability to begin and/ or continue nursing classes.
• Current American Heart Association CPR for Health Care Providers certification.

Clinical practice requirements involve costs not covered by tuition, room, and board and will be the responsibility of the student.

Attendance. All nursing courses, laboratory and clinical experiences are required. Students are expected to be punctual in attending classes, laboratories, private lessons, clinical experiences, and college convocations.

Grading. Grades in all nursing (NUR) courses are based on numeric values. There is no rounding of nursing grades.

Credit/No Credit. All nursing courses must be taken for a letter grade and may not be taken on the Credit/No Credit Grade Option.

Tuition and Fees. Baseline tuition and fees for the nursing program are the same as other programs at Wesleyan College. Additional fees and out-of-pocket expenses are associated with the nursing program. Nursing fees are $1000 per semester. In addition, students can expect to spend approximately $1500 to purchase books, uniforms, nursing shoes, and other items necessary for the nursing program for the first year.

Academic Progression (semester to semester). Progression in the major toward an anticipated date of graduation is contingent upon successful completion, with a grade of C or higher, of ALL nursing (NUR) courses the first time attempted in a full-time plan of study. A student who must repeat one course or who must, therefore, delay progressing to more advanced courses in the curriculum, will not be able to complete all course requirements to graduate with the cohort with which the student began the major.

Any student who does not achieve a grade of C or higher in a nursing course will be allowed the opportunity to take the course the next time it is offered, if space is available and re-entry status is achieved. A re-entry form to repeat the course must be submitted to the program director one semester before the course is offered.

All course work must be completed before a student can progress to the next level. Students who receive a grade of Incomplete (I) in any NUR course will not be allowed to progress to the next term. The student should consult with her academic advisor in nursing to determine a resolution of the incomplete grade.

• Nursing students must make at least a "C" (75) grade in each nursing course which counts toward their degree.
• Grades of "D" and "F" are considered failure of the course.
• There is no rounding of nursing grades.
• If a student earns a rating of clinically unsatisfactory in a clinical nursing course, a grade of "F" will be assigned for the course grade.
• Failure to score 90 or greater on a clinical course medication test will prevent the student from progressing.
• Students may repeat one nursing course. Any student failing two nursing courses will be denied continued enrollment in the Nursing Program.

Students are expected to follow the nursing plan of study in the prescribed sequence to progress through the curriculum. Prerequisites for each course are noted on the appropriate course syllabus. Students who do not satisfy a minimum grade requirement in the nursing course or who withdraw from a nursing course will not be allowed to progress in the Nursing Program.

Repeating a Course. Students who do not achieve a grade of "C" or higher in one nursing course will be allowed the opportunity to take that course the next time it is offered, if space is available. A letter of intent to repeat the course must be submitted to the Program Director one semester before the course is offerred. While retaking a nursing course, students will also be required to enroll in NUR 225 Success Skills in Nursing.

Withdrawal Policy. Students are encouraged to speak with their assigned nursing advisor and a financial aid representative prior to making the decision to withdraw from classes.

Readmission. Students who do not achieve a grade of "C" or higher in one nursing course will be allowed the opportunity to take that course the next time it is offered, if space is available.  The student must sumbit a re-entry form that supports the applicant's potential for success if readmitted. The readmission applicant must meet all admission and clinical requirements stated in the academic catalogue that are current when the application is submitted. The applicant is required to successfully demonstrate clinical skills for semester in which they are reapplying. All readmission applications are reviewed by the Nursing faculty. If the student will have a break in college attendance before repeating a nursing course, she will need to apply for a leave of absence from the college.

Program Termination/Dismissal. A Program Termination is defined as immediate dismissal from the Nursing Program. A student who demonstrates unsafe behavior that may result in serious consequences to a student, client, or others may be dismissed. The student will receive a clinical failure and a grade of "F" in the course. Depending on the infraction, a student who is terminated from the Nursing Program may not be eligible for readmission to the nursing program.

Transition to the Bachelor of Arts. A student who is dismissed from the nursing program may be eligible to change majors within Wesleyan College and pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in another field. The nursing faculty will discuss available options with the student and refer her to the appropriate faculty/advisor.