College of Nursing

As healthcare grows more specialized and complex, so does the profession of nursing. The academic programs of RFU’s College of Nursing are focused on preparing future nursing professionals for the demands of tomorrow. Here’s how we do that.

Expanded Professional Development

The nursing community is currently pushing for a more educated workforce. Future professionals will need to be ready to competently jump into increasingly specialized and intensive roles in order to improve patient outcomes. That means they’ll need to be educated in new and different ways today than they were even just a few years ago.

Through its College of Nursing, RFU is committed to giving students a strong foundation in nursing knowledge and experience, while also strengthening their flexibility, creativity, resilience, and analytical and communication skills. RFU’s dedication to excellence in education, advancement of science, strong partnerships and service to communities prepares students to optimally serve others.

The College of Nursing has developed programs from Entry into Nursing Practice (that could begin as early as high school) through the Doctoral level. We believe that patients will have the best outcomes when cared for by nurses with advanced education.

Interprofessional Education

Future nursing professionals must be skilled in working with a range of healthcare professionals, many of whom serve in very different fields and roles. For example, you may be working with a team to develop holistic, patient-centered treatment plans, or serving on a committee that develops system-wide quality improvement practices.

RFU’s mission enhances our graduates’ capacity to meet these expanding nursing roles by providing them with a true interprofessional education. Our College of Nursing students learn alongside their academic peers both within and beyond nursing programs to broaden their view of all roles in health care.

Connection to Communities

Providing care begins with individual patients and extends to the greater community. Future healthcare professionals will need to understand factors that impact community health, and participate in designing new models of care that address the social barriers to health attainment and wellness.

Our close academic partnerships with nationally recognized healthcare systems, local public health professionals and our neighboring Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center enable us to have a voice in developing the future of health care.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

An important way to enhance nursing services within communities is to have practitioners who reflect their values and backgrounds. To help achieve that outcome, the College of Nursing is building a compassionate learning community so all students can understand and appreciate the conditions where people live, learn, work and play — and how those conditions contribute to health inequities in our communities.

RFU College of Nursing students will find the resources for all of their learning and social development needs, from admissions and financial aid, to academic support and student organizations, to training on diversity, equity and inclusion. At RFU, our goal is to provide educational opportunities for individuals with a breadth of characteristics, experiences and accomplishments, and we value the many ways in which these different perspectives can improve health care and wellness.