Nursing

Nursing Mission Statement

The mission of the Jeanette C. Rudy BSN Program is to prepare caring, highly competent graduates who will provide excellent, evidence-based nursing care for individuals, families, and communities across the lifespan, with emphasis placed on knowledge, skills, attitudes, and experiences that promote clinical reasoning, integrity, and life-long learning.

Vision Statement

The Jeanette C. Rudy Nursing Program will be a leading nursing program in Middle Tennessee that graduates individuals who are characterized by their professional excellence and positive impact on healthcare.

Program Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of the Nursing program the graduate will be prepared to:

Integrate clinical reasoning and critical thinking methods to make effective nursing judgements and help patients make relevant decisions to improve their health and quality of life.
Administer excellent, evidence-based care, utilizing various biopsychosocial frameworks, to individuals, families, groups, and the community with diverse demographic, spiritual, and cultural characteristics in a variety of settings.
Integrate teaching strategies that are appropriate to assist the patient, family, and community to achieve their highest level of health and wellness possible.
Collaborate in partnership with other healthcare team members to promote, protect, and improve health of patients at any point on the illness/wellness continuum.
Communicate effectively with the patient, family, and all members of the healthcare team using oral, written, and electronic methods, to transmit the analysis and integration of data required to provide excellent, evidence-based nursing care.
Implement interventions that integrate ethical and legal behaviors in all professional nursing activities leading to quality outcomes in order to advocate for the health, well-being, and best interest of nurses, patients, families, and communities.
Engage in leadership and management activities in a multidisciplinary healthcare environment to plan, implement, delegate, evaluate, and promote safe nursing care.

Nursing Entry Options

The Rudy School of Nursing and Health Professions offers two entry options leading to a baccalaureate degree in nursing.

Entry Option I is a generic, eight or nine semester academic and clinical nursing program. Two tracks are available:

Track I - The traditional day program meets during the day, but may have clinicals in the day, evening, or weekends depending on healthcare facility availability.
Track II - The nights and weekends track which holds classes at night and clinical experiences are scheduled, either day or night on the weekend. This track is offered to accommodate working adults. All prerequisites and classes are the same as the traditional day program.

Part-time or Full-time Option

Students may choose to attend either track on a full-time or part-time basis. Full-time is the recommended scheduling approach for the day student, but a part-time option is available to enhance access to nursing education. Part-time schedules are planned with the student's advisor based on prerequisites for each nursing course, alignment of coordinated courses and individual student needs.

Nights and weekends students are encouraged to explore the part-time approach to scheduling if they must work a 40-hour work week in addition to attending school. The nursing program is very rigorous and requires many hours of study. Success is difficult for an individual who must work full-time as well as attend school full-time. This is due to the lack of time to devote to the study that is necessary to be successful. Students have been successful in this endeavor but have identified it as a very stressful experience.

Entry Option II is a completely online program that enables registered nurses (RNs) who have an associate degree or diploma in nursing to earn a BSN.

Admissions Policy

To be considered for admission into the Cumberland University nursing program:

Students must be admitted to Cumberland University and declare nursing as their major in order to be considered for admission into the nursing program.
Students must meet the required cumulative college grade point average (GPA) of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale.
Students must submit the Nursing Candidacy Form (nursing application) by March 1 for fall admission and September 1 for spring admission.
Students must submit all required documentation by the application deadline including:
- official transcripts from ALL colleges and universities attended
- high school transcript if available
- Nursing Candidacy Form (nursing application)
- ATI TEAS Entrance Exam Scores
Students must take the ATI TEAS (Test of Essential Academic Skills) exam prior to the deadline for application to the nursing program. The student must choose Cumberland University as the college which will receive the ATI TEAS score so that the score can be available for admission consideration. TEAS Exam scores must be earned within one year of seeking candidacy to the nursing program. The test can be retaken once each application period after a 30 day wait time. A set cut score is not required on the TEAS Exam; however, exam scores are one component of the ranking admission process to identify students for admission into the nursing program. The nursing program highly recommends that the student score at the proficient level or higher to be considered for enrollment in the nursing program. If the student scores at the basic or developmental level, the nursing faculty recommend that the student plan a course of study to strengthen basic academic skills in reading, English, math and science. The basic and developmental level scores indicate inadequate preparation for success in a nursing program. Information regarding scheduling of the ATI TEAS is available at http://www.atitesting.com, as well as study materials available for purchase. The student schedules and pays for the exam through ATI. The Testing Center located in the Learning and Career Commons serves as a testing site for this exam as indicated on the dates listed on the ATI site. The exam may also be taken at other sites around the United States as long as the student indicates that exam results are to be sent to Cumberland University.
Candidates must have successfully completed the following science courses with a grade of "C" or higher: BIO 203, BIO 213, BIO 214, and CHEM 103. These must have been satisfactorily completed prior to entering the first semester upper division nursing courses (NO EXCEPTIONS).
Prerequisites must have been satisfactorily completed, with the exception of nine hours of selected courses prior to entering the first semester of upper division nursing courses.
- Acceptable lower division coursework, up to nine hours, that may be taken in the summer semester between the first and second year of the nursing program include the following: CIS 170, ENG 215, ENG 216, HIS 111, HIS 112, HIS 191, HIS 192, HIS 201, HIS 202, or Fine Arts (ART 191, ENG 210, MU 129, or THR 100). The Nursing faculty highly recommends that all prerequisites be completed prior to enrollment in the nursing program so that the student might take advantage of internships available in regional healthcare facilities in the summer between the first and second year of nursing school.

PLEASE NOTE: Financial Aid may not be available in the summer semester. Please consider the availability of financial aid when planning schedules for prerequisite courses prior to enrolling in the nursing program.

Tennessee Promise recipients may not delay completion of these nine courses between the junior and senior year. These students must complete all the core general education core courses to be eligible to earn an Associates Degree to successfully complete the Tennessee Promise Program. Please refer to information regarding the Tennessee Promise program for specific information regarding the program requirements.

Admission Process

All candidacy applications, transcripts, and ATI scores will be reviewed by the Nursing Program Admission-Progression Committee.
A weighted admission ranking system will be used to determine admission to the nursing program. The ranking is based on the pool of candidates for a particular semester and the number of clinical sites and lab slots available.
- Candidates must have earned a minimum of 2.75 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale in coursework to be placed in the pool of candidates for ranking (NO EXCEPTIONS).
- Additional factors which will be weighed in the ranking scores are: ATI TEAS scores, grades in science courses, and enrollment at Cumberland University. Grades of "D", "F", course repeats, and withdrawals will adversely impact the ranking. Grades of "D" or "F" in science courses with repeats negatively impact ranking. Failure from another nursing program will negatively impact the ranking.
Applicants will be notified of acceptance or denial into the nursing program approximately six weeks after the application deadline.

VSCC/Cumberland Partnership

Through this partnership, Volunteer State Community College (VSCC) students earning the Associate of Science in Pre-Nursing will transfer to Cumberland University to complete the requirements for the BSN degree through the Jeanette C. Rudy Nursing Program. All VSCC credits apply toward the BSN at Cumberland University if the student has followed the prescribed course requirements in the Associate of Science in Pre-Nursing.

VSCC students apply during the first semester of their sophomore year. Students meeting the admissions requirements and following the admissions procedures will receive conditional admission into the nursing program pending the receipt and review of the final official transcript confirming the award of the associate degree.

Welch College/Cumberland Partnership

TBD

Transfer Policy

Students must first meet the requirements for admission to Cumberland University.
The Nursing Admissions and Progression Committee evaluates each student who transfers from another accredited nursing program on an individual basis.
Requests to transfer nursing courses from another college or university will also be considered by the Nursing Admissions and Progressions Committee on an individual basis based on comparability of the course with the same or similar course in the Cumberland Nursing Program along with the rigor of the course and the university from which the student is transferring. Other factors will be considered such as student GPA, reason for transfer request, and other student factors indicating potential for success or failure in the Cumberland Nursing Program.
Students who desire to transfer from another accredited BSN nursing program must meet the following requirements:
- Submission of official transcript from the accredited BSN nursing program.
- A letter from the applicant explaining why he or she is requesting the transfer.
- Minimum GPA of 2.75.
- If required, completion of ATI TEAS.
- If required, completion of competency check-offs, exams, and/or ATI testing.
- If required, a letter of good standing from the accredited BSN nursing program.
- The student must meet the Cumberland University requirements for undergraduate transfer credit.

Degree Requirements

Area I - Foundation Skills - 3 hours

FSL 101

Foundations of Scholarship and Learning

FSL 101 is required for new and transferring freshmen with less than 24 credit hours. Students must earn a "C" or higher in FSL 101.