The goal of the School of Nursing is to prepare students to think critically and to practice nursing competently and compassionately in rapidly changing practice environments. All efforts are designed to build nursing knowledge; enhance nursing practice and patient safety; foster professional integrity; and ultimately improve the health outcomes of patients, families, and communities across the continuum of care. This approach requires knowledge, skills, and attitudes that demonstrate leadership, quality care, critical thinking and clinical reasoning, cultural and linguistic competence, interprofessional collaboration, evidence-based practice, and integration of informatics and technology.
The clinical program takes place in the community where people live, as well as in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and long-term-care facilities. The curriculum is capped by courses that enable students to put leadership and management skills into action and to synthesize the complete role of the professional nurse in a clinical practicum.
In addition to completing academic coursework, students must meet the cooperative education requirement as specified by their plan of study, which gives them the opportunity to integrate the theory and practice of nursing in selected settings. Numerous community and institutional healthcare agencies in Greater Boston and across the country offer students an opportunity to gain experience in providing nursing care to a variety of patients and families and to understand that nurses have major roles in wellness and health promotion, acute care, and long-term care. Students in the program are strongly encouraged to participate in research activity and in global educational opportunities that can all be a part of the program.
The baccalaureate degree program in nursing at Northeastern University is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, 655 K Street, NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20001, 202-887-6791, and is also approved by the Board of Registration in Nursing of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Accreditation and approval indicate that the program meets educational standards for faculty, curriculum design, student quality, and overall university support.
The school subscribes to the standards established by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, of which it is a member.
Academic Standards for Nursing Majors
Academic Dismissal from Major
Students in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, Prelicensure Nursing Major will be dismissed from their major effective the following academic semester for any of the reasons noted below:
Course Failure
- Students who do not meet the required minimum grade in two professional courses, including labs and clinical, will be dismissed from the program. Only one professional course can be repeated.
- Students must retake the failed professional course as a requirement for progression in the program. This may delay your progression in the program and/or expected graduation date.
- Students who do not meet the minimum grade requirement within two attempts of the course will be dismissed from the program.
Course Withdrawal
- Only two professional course withdrawals will be permitted (excluding medical leave of absence). Additional professional course withdrawals may lead to dismissal from the program.
- A withdrawal from a didactic and associated clinical/lab course will count as one course withdrawal.
- Students who have withdrawn from two professional courses will receive individual outreach support, which includes a mandatory meeting with both your advisor and your program director (and/or assistant undergraduate dean).
- Personal leaves of absence will be considered on an individual basis.
Note: Boston campus traditional BSN students dismissed from their major but who are otherwise in good standing with the university are allowed to remain at Northeastern for up to two semesters as a provisional Bouvé student, by the end of which the student is expected to move into a new major.
See Academic Appeals Policies and Procedures
Academic Appeals
Students who believe that they were erroneously, capriciously, or otherwise unfairly treated in an academic or cooperative education decision may petition to appeal the decision. Additional details about the process may be found in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences Academic Affairs Appeals Process and in Appeals Policies and Procedures in the university Student Handbook.
Program Policies and Standards
Students are expected to adhere to the policies and standards of their program major as stated in the Student Handbook to progress through their curriculum as planned. Students seeking any exceptions to the program policies and standards specified for their program major will be brought before the School of Nursing Academic Standing Committee to present their petitions.
Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program Requirements
The nursing program includes several options for a student’s plan of attendance, as specified below:
For those students entering Northeastern as first-year (freshman) students (including N.U.in) and current Northeastern students entering the BSN via the change-of-major process:
- A four-year plan with two, six-month co-ops:
At least one of the two co-op experiences must involve working with registered nurses providing direct patient care.
Students must complete all co-op experiences planned in their academic program with a grade of S for each co-op experience.
Current Northeastern students entering the BSN via the change-of-major process should follow the requirements found at the Bouvé College of Health Sciences Office of Student Services under Change of Major.
All students, regardless of entry point, must successfully complete 133 semester hours of academic credit to graduate in compliance with university and nursing curriculum requirements and in their expected year of graduation.
- Degree requirements must be completed within eight years from the date of matriculation.
- Students are required to attend all scheduled nursing classes, clinical experiences, and clinical labs on campus and in clinical agencies. If the student fails to meet attendance requirements, the student will fail the associated class, clinical, and/or lab.
Transfer students who do not already have a bachelor's degree from institutions outside Northeastern may choose to apply to the Nursing, BSN—Transfer Track, a 16-month transfer track hybrid program, where approved by state governance. All plans are not offered at all campuses.
Clinical Requirements
Clinical settings require criminal background checks. Additionally, international students require curricular practical training clearance to meet federal requirements for all clinical and co-op experiences.
All students must receive a health clearance from University Health and Counseling Services. Health clearance is based on specific documentation of immunity from infectious disease and a physical examination (this may be done by the student’s own healthcare provider). In addition, nursing students need a clinical clearance in order to participate in clinical courses. Clinical clearance, managed by the School of Nursing’s Clinical Placement Office, includes verification of certification of Healthcare Provider cardiopulmonary resuscitation; recent negative tuberculosis screening (PPD); positive titers for MMR, varicella, and hepatitis B; vaccines including TDAP and influenza; and additional health screenings as may be required by the program. It is the responsibility of the student to stay current and to provide documentation required for clinical clearance throughout the entire nursing program.
Six weeks prior to the start of a clinical course, students must show:
- Evidence of immunizations and health clearance by UHCS.
- Documentation of Healthcare Provider CPR certification.
- Completion of a Criminal Offender Record Information background check to be eligible for clinical placement.
- Students will not be allowed to start the clinical course, and may be dropped from the clinical course, if these processes are not satisfactorily completed.
Students should refer to clinical course requirements, health clearance requirements for clinical rotations, and the professional conduct statement here for additional details.
Clinical Warning
A nursing student may be placed on clinical warning, or fail the clinical course, at any time during the semester for the following reasons:
- Failing to meet the clinical objectives at a satisfactory level.
- Failing to demonstrate safe practice. Students may be removed from the clinical area, before completion of the clinical rotation, if the instructor determines that the student is unsafe. This will result in the student failing the clinical course.
- Failing to meet the attendance requirement.
Conditions
- Students on clinical warning must develop an academic plan with the clinical instructor to address clinical performance.
- Students will be expected to improve clinical performance by adhering to the plan.
- Failure to adhere to the terms of the plan will result in the student failing the course and being placed on academic probation. All conditions of academic probation will then apply.
Notification
- The clinical instructor will issue the student a clinical warning via the university's academic progress reporting tool.
- The student and the instructor should then develop a plan together to address the deficiency.
- Copies of the warning will be forwarded to the program director and/or the assistant dean for undergraduate programs if needed.
- This is an administrative warning and will not be posted on the transcript.
- Satisfactory completion of the clinical experience component of the course will result in removal of the warning from the student’s file.
Blood-Borne Pathogen Exposure and Injury
Any student who sustains any kind of injury and/or exposure related to blood-borne, respiratory, or other pathogens or hazardous materials while on a clinical rotation should seek immediate treatment. They must also immediately follow the procedures listed below.
Procedures
- Students must follow the affiliate site’s protocol for exposure reporting, testing, counseling, and follow-up.
- Students can present their Clinical Accident Insurance identification card to arrange billing at the site or a suitable nearby hospital or urgent care clinic. If students do not know a local provider, they can call the resource number on their identification card for aid in finding a local provider. Students should also present their personal health insurance information.
- Within 24 hours of the accident, students must also inform their program’s director of clinical education (or unit designee responsible for clinical placements) of the accident and submit, in writing, a description of the incident and injury or exposure using the BCHS Accident Report form, linked here. If a student is incapacitated and unable to file their own report within the 24-hour time frame, a Northeastern faculty or staff person familiar with the incident may file on their behalf. The student should file their own report as soon as possible thereafter.
- Submission of the Accident Report form linked above will automatically notify:
- The program’s director of clinical education or Clinical Placement Office (or unit designee responsible for clinical placements)
- The program director (if applicable)
- Assistant dean of clinical education in the BCHS Dean's Office
- Risk Services (risk@northeastern.edu)
- If exposure involved, Office of Environmental Health and Safety—Biosafety
- If for any reason a student is not able to receive immediate medical treatment, there is the resource of postexposure counseling through the university's partner, OEHN (Occupational & Environmental Health Network). They can be reached at 1-866-360-8100. OEHN is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. OEHN will collect appropriate information and engage the doctor on call who can help to direct appropriate care depending on exposure and circumstances.
Technical Standards for Admission, Academic Progression, and Graduation
The primary mission of the School of Nursing is to educate our students to provide evidence-based, culturally and linguistically competent, ethical healthcare that is high quality, safe, and accessible to diverse local, national, and global communities. Our programs are designed to prepare students to become leaders as nurse clinicians, educators, scholars, and researchers. The School of Nursing is also committed to achieving the goals of the university to become an outstanding national research, practice-oriented, student-centered, urban institution.
The goal of the School of Nursing is to prepare students to think critically and to practice nursing competently and compassionately in rapidly changing practice environments. All efforts are designed to build nursing knowledge, enhance nursing practice and patient safety, foster professional integrity, and ultimately improve the health outcomes of patients, families, and communities across the continuum of care.
In addition to classroom learning, students’ clinical education experiences occur in settings, like hospitals, in which patient safety is the priority. For this reason, students who, upon enrollment in any of the nursing programs, seek accommodations from Disability Access Services at Northeastern must also request an assessment of accommodations that would be needed for clinical education.
Certain functional abilities are essential for the delivery of safe, effective nursing care during clinical education activities. Therefore, the School of Nursing has determined that certain technical standards are requisite for admission, progression, and graduation from the nursing programs. An individual must be able to independently, with or without reasonable accommodation, meet the following technical standards:
- General abilities
- Observational ability
- Communication ability
- Motor ability
- Intellectual, conceptual, and quantitative abilities
- Behavioral and social attributes
- Ability to manage stressful situations
Individuals unable to meet these technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodation, will not be able to complete the program.
General Abilities
The student is expected to possess functional use of the senses of vision, touch, hearing, and smell so that data received by the senses may be integrated, analyzed, and synthesized in a consistent and accurate manner. A student must be able to respond promptly to urgent situations that may occur during clinical training activities and must not hinder the ability of other members of the healthcare team to provide prompt treatment and care to patients.
Observational Ability
The student must have sufficient capacity to make accurate visual observations and interpret them in the context of laboratory studies, medication administration, and patient care activities. In addition, the student must be able to document these observations and maintain accurate records.
Communication Ability
The student must communicate both verbally and nonverbally in order to elicit information and to convey that information to others. Each student must have the ability to read and write accurately and comprehensively in English. The student must be able to thoroughly comprehend and fluently speak the English language so as to facilitate communication with patients, families, professionals in healthcare settings, instructors, and other students. The student must also be able to present information in a professional, logical manner and to provide counseling and instruction in order to effectively care for patients and their families.
Motor Ability
The student must be able to perform gross and fine motor movements with sufficient coordination needed to perform complete physical examinations utilizing the techniques of inspection, palpation, percussion, auscultation, and other diagnostic maneuvers. A student must develop the skills needed to perform or assist with procedures, treatments, administration of medication, and the management and operation of diagnostic and therapeutic medical equipment. The student must possess the physical and mental stamina to meet the demands associated with extended periods of sitting, standing, moving, and physical exertion required for satisfactory and safe performance in the clinical and classroom settings.
Intellectual, Conceptual, and Quantitative Abilities
The student must be able to develop and refine critical thinking skills that are essential to nursing practice. Critical thinking involves the abilities to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, and synthesize objective and subjective data and to make decisions, often in a time-urgent environment, that reflect consistent and thoughtful deliberation and sound clinical judgment.
Behavioral and Social Attributes
Compassion, integrity, motivation, effective interpersonal skills, and concern for others are personal attributes required of those in the nursing programs. The student must be able to work under supervision of a clinical instructor or preceptor; this is essential to ensure patient safety. The student must exercise good judgment and promptly complete all responsibilities in the classroom and clinical settings. The ability to establish culturally competent relationships with individuals, families, and groups and to respond effectively to patients who have different intellectual capacities is critical to nursing practice.
Ability to Manage Stressful Situations
The student must be able to adapt to and function effectively in stressful situations in both the classroom and clinical settings, including emergency situations. These stressors include personal, patient care/family, faculty/peer, and/or program-related issues.
Disability and Special Needs
Students with special needs are encouraged to contact the Disability Resource Center to register and request services. Students must notify the instructor at the beginning of the semester if they plan to use DRC services throughout the course. The staff in that office is available for assistance.
State Board Nursing Examination
In Massachusetts, and several other states, the registering board requires that graduates taking the National Council Licensing Examination meet standards of “good moral character." Students may review the GMC requirement specified at Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 112, sections 74, 74A, and 76; Licensure Policy No. 00-01 under “Rules & Regulations” on the Massachusetts BORN website.
Please visit Bouvé College of Health Sciences Program Learning Outcomesfor the specific student learning outcomes for this program.
- Concentrations and course offerings may vary by campus and/or by program modality. Please consult with your advisor or admissions coach for the course availability each term at your campus or within your program modality.
- Certain options within the program may be required at certain campuses or for certain program modalities. Please consult with your advisor or admissions coach for requirements at your campus or for your program modality.
Complete all courses listed below unless otherwise indicated. Also complete any corequisite labs, recitations, clinicals, or tools courses where specified and complete any additional courses needed beyond specific college and major requirements to satisfy graduation credit requirements.
Universitywide Requirements
All undergraduate students are required to complete the Universitywide Requirements.
NUpath Requirements
All undergraduate students are required to complete the NUpath Requirements.
Professional courses with a prefix HLTH, HSCI, and NRSG and professional prerequisite courses with a prefix BIOL, CHEM, MATH, and PSYC require a minimum passing grade of C.
Nursing Major Requirements
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| NRSG 2150 | Ethical Healthcare: Genetics and Genomics | 4 |
| or HLTH 2100 | Interprofessional Ethics for Individual and Population Health |
| or PHIL 1165 | Moral and Social Problems in Healthcare |
| NRSG 2210 | Influences on Health and Illness: A Nursing Perspective | 3 |
NRSG 2220
and NRSG 2221 | Health Assessment and Fundamental Nursing Skills
and Lab for NRSG 2220 | 4 |
| NRSG 2350 | Integrated Pathophysiology and Pharmaceutical Interventions for Nursing Practice | 6 |
NRSG 3302
and NRSG 3303 | Nursing with Women and Families
and Clinical for NRSG 3302 | 5 |
NRSG 3320
and NRSG 3321 | Nursing Care of Adults 1
and Clinical for NRSG 3320 | 6 |
NRSG 3323
and NRSG 3324 | Advanced Assessment and Interventions
and Lab for NRSG 3323 | 2 |
NRSG 3400
and NRSG 3401 | Nursing and the Promotion of Mental Health
and Clinical for NRSG 3400 | 5 |
NRSG 3420
and NRSG 3421 | Nursing Care of Adults 2
and Clinical for NRSG 3420 | 6 |
NRSG 4502
and NRSG 4503 | Nursing Care of the Child
and Clinical for NRSG 4502 | 6 |
NRSG 4604
and NRSG 4605 | Public Health Community Nursing
and Clinical for NRSG 4604 | 5 |
| NRSG 4610 | Managing and Leading in Healthcare | 4 |
| or NRSG 4611 | Managing and Leading in Healthcare—An International Perspective |
NRSG 4995
and NRSG 4996 | Comprehensive Nursing Practicum
and Clinical for NRSG 4995 | 5 |
| NRSG 5120 | Statistics for Health Science | 3 |
| or HLTH 5120 | Statistics for Health Science |
| NRSG 5220 | Introduction to Research Methods and Application for Healthcare | 4 |
Supporting Courses
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| NRSG 1000 | College: An Introduction | 1 |
BIOL 2217
and BIOL 2218 | Integrated Anatomy and Physiology 1
and Lab for BIOL 2217 | 5 |
| 5 |
| General Chemistry for Health Sciences
and Lab for CHEM 1101 | |
| General Chemistry for Science Majors
and Lab for CHEM 1161 | |
| General Chemistry 1
and Lab for CHEM 1211 | |
| Human Nutrition | |
| Contemporary Issues in Nutrition |
| 4 |
| Mathematical Thinking | |
| Calculus 1 | |
| Calculus 2 | |
| Calculus and Differential Equations for Biology 1 | |
| Calculus and Differential Equations for Biology 2 | |
| Calculus 1 for Science and Engineering | |
BIOL 2219
and BIOL 2220 | Integrated Anatomy and Physiology 2
and Lab for BIOL 2219 | 5 |
| PSYC 1101 | Foundations of Psychology | 4 |
BIOL 2221
and BIOL 2222 | Foundations of Microbiology
and Lab for BIOL 2221 | 5 |
| ENGW 1111 | First-Year Writing | 4 |
| NRSG 2000 | Professional Development for Co-op | 1 |
| SOCL 1101 | Introduction to Sociology | 4 |
| PSYC 3404 | Developmental Psychology | 4 |
| ENGW 3306 | Advanced Writing in the Health Professions | 4 |
Electives
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| 15 |
NUpath Requirements Satisfied
- Analyzing/Using Data (AD)
- Capstone Experience (CE)
- Engaging Differences/Diversity (DD)
- Exploring Creative Expression and Innovation (EI)
- Ethical Reasoning (ER)
- Conducting Formal/Quantitative Reasoning (FQ)
- Interpreting Culture (IC)
- Natural/Designed World (ND)
- Society/Institutions (SI)
- Writing-Intensive in the Major (WI)
- Advanced Writing in the Disciplines (WD)
Integrating Knowledge and Skills Through Experience (EX) is satisfied through co-op.
Students are responsible for using the general electives in this program to complete NUpath requirements not satisfied by required courses in this program.
Academic Standards for Nursing Majors
Minimum passing grade standards exist for both professional courses, which are required courses taught within the major/college, and professional prerequisite courses and are outlined before the nursing requirements above.
Courses in the above-listed professional or professional prerequisite subjects that are taken as electives are exempt from the C or better rule, and the university’s minimum satisfactory grade will be accepted.
For all other courses, the university’s minimum passing grade for the course will be accepted.
Progression Within Nursing
- First-year students must complete at least 27 semester hours and meet all major prerequisite course requirements to progress to sophomore status. First-year students who earn fewer than the semester hours stipulated by the curriculum plan for their major must make up the difference prior to graduation.
- To progress into the subsequent year of professional courses, students must have completed all professional prerequisites with the required minimum passing grade as noted in the program requirements.
- Students must successfully complete all courses, as stipulated by their approved curriculum plan, with a grade of C or better in order to progress into the next professional course.
- Students who either fail or withdraw from a professional course will need to successfully remediate that course before continuing in their approved curriculum plan.
- Students who incur an incomplete grade in a prerequisite course must obtain approval from their academic advisor, upon consultation with the department faculty and, when appropriate, the School of Nursing Academic Standing Committee, prior to progression into the subsequent course(s).
- Students may not change their graduation date more than twice.
Program Requirements
133 total semester hours required
