Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

Nursing Elective Strategic Plan

June, 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this document is to outline the strategic plan to implement nursing electives in the BSN
curriculum and to integrate the BSN and RN-BSN students in the elective courses as appropriate.

Current Status
The RN-BSN curriculum currently requires a nursing elective as a required part of the curriculum. There
are three nursing electives offered at this time. Table 1 outlines the courses and the seat counts for Fall
2015 through Summer 2017 semesters/sessions.

Table 1
Course # Course Registration Counts
Name Fall Spring Summer Fall Spring Summer
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017
NUR 4230 Nursing Independent Study 0 1 0 2 1 1
NUR 4231 Nursing Informatics 7 5 2 6 5 6
NUR 4232 Gerontological Concepts and 5 8 13 12 10 8
Issues
Total 12 14 15 20 16 15

Projected Need
The revised BSN curriculum will require a nursing elective as a requirement. The nursing elective is
required as part of the senior 2 semester that will be phased in Spring 2019. Based on 64 students per
BSN cohort and the current RN-BSN enrollment, we estimate that we will need 3-4 electives (+
independent study option) in each Fall semester, Spring semester, and Summer session to
accommodate 40-90 students. A minimum seat count of 8 is needed for each elective course except for
designated courses.

Proposed Plan
To accommodate the needed growth in nursing electives, the Nursing Operations Committee (NOC)
proposes the following plan to create and implement additional elective experiences. Table 2 outlines
the courses and minimum seat counts that we will continue to offer as needed.

Table 2
Course # Course Minimum Registration
Name
NUR 4230 Nursing Independent Study None
NUR 4231 Nursing Informatics 8
NUR 4232 Gerontological Concepts and Issues 8
Table 3 details a proposed plan for course development with the associated timeline, responsible
parties, program track, and minimum registration.

Table 3
Course Ideas Faculty Curriculum First Semester BSN Minimum
Responsible Approval Offered to &/OR Registration
Students RN-BSN
Certification for RNs Vasel August 2017 Spring 2018 RN-BSN None
Study Abroad Perkins August 2017 Summer 2018 BSN & RN-BSN TBD
Spirituality in Nursing Sorbello November 2017 Fall 2018 BSN & RN-BSN 8

Hot Topics in Whelpley November 2017 Summer 2018 BSN & RN-BSN 8
Pharmacology
Emergency Nursing Liverman November 2017 Fall 2018 BSN & RN-BSN 8
Specialty
Palliative Care Smith November 2017 Spring 2019 BSN & RN-BSN 8
Self-Care TBD November 2018 Fall 2019 BSN & RN-BSN 8

As courses are developed, NOC will gather more data about faculty and student schedule interests and
the team will create a schedule where each elective is offered in a given semester. Not all electives will
be offered each semester or each year.

All new nursing elective courses will be initially offered as Special Topics in Nursing courses, until they
are fully established in the curriculum. This process will require each new course to be offered more
than once and vetted as a sustainable option. NOC will need to add a Special Topics in Nursing Course
description to the student catalog for 2017-18 to allow for new electives in Spring 2018 and Summer
2018.

Support Needed from College Administrative Cabinet

Tuition plan to combine BSN and RN-BSN students in one course.
Assistance with creating course fee and financial aid structure for study abroad course.