The curriculum is organized into eight semesters and consists of 131 total semester hour credits with 84 hours of general education credits and 47 hours of nursing credits. (Note the clinical credit hours are defined as 1 credit hour = 5 clinical contact hours per week for 14 weeks per semester as defined by VUSN).

The philosophy, objectives, and conceptual framework of the nursing program provide the guidance for the development of the courses, course objectives, content, and student learning activities of the nursing program. A variety of teaching methods will be used to facilitate the student’s learning process. Active learning methods for didactic and clinical courses will encompass using seminars, group projects, synchronous and asynchronous web based activities, along with simulation and computer learning activities, skills lab and clinical experiences as well as student presentations. All teaching strategies will be geared toward the development of critical thinking and decision making for nursing care.

The generalist nursing curriculum consists of clinical and non-clinical courses that contain nursing practice and discipline content. Clinical experiences focus on situations that reflect an understanding of the nursing process and the nursing paradigm in health promotion and maintenance, illness care, and rehabilitation. The theoretical basis for practice is presented in the classroom and provides the scientific knowledge base needed to diagnose and treat human responses to actual or potential health problems. Non-clinical courses focus on the discipline of nursing in the areas of ethics, economics, politics, legal issues, and the heritage of nursing. Completion of the generalist curriculum meets the Tennessee Board of Nursing requirements for R.N. licensure. The sequencing of the nursing courses builds on the competencies mastered in the prior liberal arts education courses is delivered in a concentrated format.

Clinical experiences will be selected to meet the specific outcome for each course. The Fisk University nursing program will have access to same clinical faculties as those used for the VUSN generalist program. VUMC and Metro General Hospital will be the predominant clinical sties for the acute care portions of the curriculum. Community health clinical sties will be centered at the VUSN Vine Hill Community Clinic. Long Term care facilities will be used for the Care of the Elderly practicum.

The faculty/student ratio will be 1:6 in all clinical courses except for the Management Practicum (N247B) which will have a 1:10 ratio. Faculty for the nursing courses will be VUSN faculty as described previously.