Dozens of universities nationwide offer quality BSN programs. But not all of them offer the advantages of learning in a diverse metropolitan area. As a nursing student, you’ll have plenty of time between classes to explore the surrounding culture and medical landscape wherever you train. However, if you like a diverse population and world-class hospitals, consider getting your BSN in Miami.
Do Universities in Miami Offer a BSN Program?
BSN programs are popular in the Miami area. The beauty and wellness culture makes it easier to get a quality education. Depending on your current credentials, you can enroll in an online, on-campus or hybrid program.
Do You Need to be an RN to get a BSN?
Not necessarily, but the program is different if you’re starting from scratch. If you’re a new RN, you’ll attend for four full years , the curriculum covers nursing fundamentals and advanced topics that are not included in associate degree programs.
If you’re already an RN with an ADN who wants to build on your education, a so-called RN to BSN bridge program fills in the gaps. You won’t need to start over. Courses expand on your prior education and work experience. Programs take 18-24 months to complete.
What Do You Learn in a BSN Degree Program?
If you’re not an RN, the four-year BSN program prepares you for a professional nursing career in your choice of setting. Core classes include:
Fundamentals of Nursing
Nursing fundamentals is a foundational class in both associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs. Here, you’ll learn about the nursing process, how nurses set patient goals through assessment, decision-making, and intervention. Additional topics include therapeutic communication, nursing ethics, professional boundaries, documentation, and recordkeeping.
Physical Assessment in Health Care
In this course, you’ll practice the head-to-toe physical assessments used to make nursing diagnoses. Students explore normal and abnormal findings using a body system approach, learning to identify problems and preventable health risks.
Pathophysiology
Pathophysiology is the study of health disorders. The focus is on identifying developmental, cultural, genetic, and environmental risk factors for disease and injury. By understanding what causes illness, nurses are better equipped to fight them.
Adult Health Nursing
This comprehensive two-part course examines the physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychosocial health issues pertinent to adults. Topics include Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, holistic care and how to implement person-centered interventions across different healthcare settings.
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the study of medicines and how they’re used to prevent and treat disease. Emphasis is on the major drug classifications, therapeutic effects, pharmacokinetics, contraindications, interactions, adverse effects, and patient safety.
Nursing Role and Scope
Medicine is highly regulated for public safety, so a nurse’s scope of practice is determined by state boards of nursing. This course takes a deep dive into your role as a healthcare provider, its limitations and how to practice safely within regulatory guidelines.
Nursing Research
Nurses participate in medical research while conducting studies of their own to further the field. Here, you’ll learn to identify research topics, design quality studies, collect and analyze data and come to actionable conclusions.
Psychiatric Nursing
Mental health is a key component of a patient’s wellness. Topics in this class include common psychiatric and behavioral disorders, risk factors, cognitive assessment, and treatment modalities.
Culture in Nursing
Cultural competency is the ability to care for others in ways that respect their language, worldviews, and traditions. You’ll learn how to approach and communicate with people from all walks of life so that care is holistic and person-centered. As an immigration center, the Miami area affords opportunities for students to learn about other cultures.
Pediatric Nursing
Pediatric nursing covers the care of children, from infancy through adolescence, with an emphasis on growth and development benchmarks, child safety, and preventive care. While in the Miami area, you can visit the world-renowned Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
Maternity and Newborn Nursing
Maternal and newborn nursing prepares graduate nurses for jobs in hospitals and the community. You’ll learn to care for the physical and psychosocial needs of women, newborns, and families from the prenatal through the post-partum period.
Nursing Leadership and Management
Bachelor’s-educated nurses are primed for leading roles in the healthcare field. This course discusses supervisory, leadership and management techniques and how nurses can take charge of their futures.
Professional Nursing Practicum
Shortly before graduation, BSN students collaborate with a preceptor and other nursing professionals in a healthcare setting on a field-specific project. You’ll identify a problem, explore the causes, and design a real-world solution or risk-reduction strategy.
The goal is to enhance your independence as a nurse while familiarizing you with professional workplace expectations. With some of the world’s finest hospitals, including Mount Sinai Medical Center, there is no shortage of unique practicum opportunities in the Miami area.
Community Nursing
Nurses not only work in hospitals, but they also support communities through home-based care and public health initiatives. This course delves into the impact of nurses on the cities and towns they work in. You’ll learn how to care for individuals as part of larger demographic groups through targeted interventions.
Licensed RNs will take many of the same third- and fourth-year courses that first-time nurses take, such as:
- Physical Assessment in Health Care
- Pathophysiology
- Nursing Research
- Community Nursing
- Nursing Role and Scope
- Culture in Nursing
- Nursing Leadership and Management
Plus, a different subset of courses that expand upon what you’ve learned on the job, including:
Complementary and Alternative Healthcare
Complementary and alternative healthcare are growing in popularity as patients seek holistic care for their illnesses. This course helps nurses separate the wheat from the chaff while embracing proven therapies, from massage to acupuncture, that complement conventional medicine.
Ethical and Legal Aspects of Nursing Practice
All nurses are autonomous practitioners. However, BSN nurses typically have more responsibility, so they’re more exposed to legal and ethical dilemmas. Topics in this class include reproductive care, euthanasia, and genetic testing. Be prepared for lively peer discussions.
Nursing and the Aging Family
US demographics are changing. For the first time, the aged outnumber the young. Getting older, however, is challenging in a nation where the healthcare system is stretched thin and family resources are waning. Nurses will play a pivotal role in the future of aging families from providing acute care to community support.
Crisis Intervention
More Americans than ever find themselves in crisis. From those afflicted by stress and addiction to victims of violence, people need a hand. As a nurse, you’ll participate in crisis interventions, time-limited programs that help stabilize difficult situations.
Whether it’s helping addicts find treatment or locating emergency shelters for families with children, you’ll help prevent tomorrow’s tragedies by stabilizing today’s crises. The Miami-Dade Country Crisis Intervention team is an excellent example of this philosophy in action.
Final Thoughts
There’s no wrong way to train as a nurse. However, if you have leadership aspirations, you’ll go further with a bachelor’s degree. As the complexity of healthcare increases, there’s a nationwide effort to put better-educated nurses in acute care and managerial positions. You’ll climb the career ladder faster with a BSN.
Want to Learn More?
The purpose of this entry-level BSN program is to prepare the Florida National University students to become professional nurses able to function in a variety of roles. The BSN students will be prepared in the areas of health assessment, nursing theories and concepts, research, leadership, informatics, and health promotion across various healthcare settings. The graduates will acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to safely practice patient care and pass the NCLEX exam. FNU awards a Bachelor of Science degree upon completion.
If you are interested in nursing, let Florida National University answer any questions you may have. Contact us today to learn more about our BSN degree program.
