Skip to main content.

Curriculum

Through concept-based curriculum and teaching, our students develop high level thinking skills and learn to apply concepts in a variety of health care settings.

The baccalaureate nursing program is organized around 60 key concepts. These concepts are categorized in five domains:

  • Nursing across the lifespan
  • Population health
  • Evidence-based practice/quality improvement
  • Leadership
  • Professional identity/communication

Each concept is composed of attributes. A few examples of concepts include immunity, sexuality, health promotion and caring. The concepts are taught through the use of exemplars, which are sample cases of the concept that the nurse may experience in their practice.

A single concept, such as immunity, may be taught as a primary or as an interrelated concept several times throughout the curriculum using a variety of exemplars such as vaccination in children, rheumatoid arthritis in middle or elder years, allergic reactions to food or medicine or in a deficient state as may be related to cancer treatment.

Concepts are taught using instructional activities that are student-centered, active and focused on the application of information.

The professional portion of the program consists of 62 semester credits and is designed to be completed in two academic years of full-time study. These courses are offered on the KU Medical Center campus. For a full description of these courses, view the academic catalog.

View courses by semester
Course Credit
Hours
NURS 327: Communicating and Managing Healthcare Information  3 cr.
NURS 328: Professional Development I: Introduction to the Profession 2 cr.
NURS 329: Alterations in Physiological Functioning I 2 cr.
NURS 330: Pharmacology I        2 cr.
NURS 331: Basic Assessment and Clinical Skills 3 cr.
NURS 332: Health and Illness: Foundations of Nursing 3 cr.
NURS 333: Practicum I: Foundations of Nursing  1 cr.
Course Credit
Hours
NURS 334: Professional Development II: Image, Roles and Ethics   3 cr.
NURS 335: Quality Improvement      2 cr.
NURS 336: Alterations in Physiological Functioning II 3 cr.
NURS 337: Pharmacology II 2 cr.
NURS 338: Health and Illness: Nursing Across the Lifespan 3 cr.
NURS 339: Practicum II: Nursing Across the Lifespan 3 cr.
Course Credit
Hours
Elective (or in Spring II) 2 cr.
Course Credit
Hours
NURS 471: Development of a Microsystem Leader 4 cr.
NURS 472: Evidence-Based Practice:  Translating Research to Practice 2 cr.
NURS 473: Professional Development III: Transition to Practice 1 cr.
NURS 474: Health and Illness: Nursing with Diverse Populations 4 cr.
NURS 475: Practicum III: Nursing with Diverse Populations 3 cr.
NURS 485: Population Health, From Local to Global Health I 2 cr.
Course Credit
Hours
NURS 476: Nursing in an Evolving Healthcare System 4 cr.
NURS 477: Practicum V: Capstone 3 cr.
NURS 478: Integration of Concepts and Clinical Competencies 1 cr.
NURS 480: Practicum IV: Leadership in a Population Health Setting 2 cr.
NURS 486: Population Health, From Local to Global Health II 2 cr.
Elective (if not completed in Summer I)    2 cr.
Program objectives
  • Objective 1: Effectively communicate with all members of the health care team, including patients and their support system.
  • Objective 2: Use clinical judgment to design quality, safe, evidence-based patient care.
  • Objective 3: Deliver safe, compassionate, culturally competent, patient-centered nursing care across the lifespan.
  • Objective 4: Use healthcare resources to effectively deliver high quality, cost-effective patient care.
  • Objective 5: Demonstrate leadership in the evaluation of outcomes, improvement of care, and advancement of nursing practice.
  • Objective 6: Provide health promotion, disease prevention, end-of-life care, and/or palliative care to individuals and populations in a variety of settings.
  • Objective 7: Examine the micro- and macro-systems that influence health care delivery to achieve quality patient care within economic boundaries.
  • Objective 8: Contribute the unique nursing perspective with the interdisciplinary health care team to achieve optimal health care outcomes.
  • Objective 9: Demonstrate professionalism in attitudes and behaviors.
KU School of Nursing

KU School of Nursing
3901 Rainbow Boulevard
Mail Stop 2029
Kansas City, KS 66160
913-588-1619 | TTY 711
soninfo@kumc.edu