Wharton County Junior College in Wharton, Texas, offers the associate degree in nursing through its allied health academic division. The school offers two programs leading to the degree. One program provides students coming out of high school an opportunity to pursue their associate degree, while the other is a plan specifically designed for licensed vocational nurses who wish to obtain the associate degree. Graduates of the program receive the Associate of Applied Science degree (A.A.S.). The program requires a total of 72 credit hours and takes approximately 22 months to complete. Courses include Foundations of Nursing Practice, Life Span/Growth and Development, Mental Health Nursing and Complex Concepts of Adult Health. Advantages to the WCJC program include its nursing practice sites. Students have opportunities to work at these practice sites and receive first-hand training in community-based care, acute care and critical care.
Wharton County Junior College
911 Boling Highway
Wharton , TX 77488
979-532-6391
wcjc.edu
Another university that offers the associate degree in the nursing field is Eastern Kentucky University. The nursing program takes two years to complete and requires 70 credit hours. The degree is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission and approved by the Kentucky Board of Nursing. Courses required as part of the program include studies in Human Anatomy, Essentials of Nutrition, Trends and Issues in Nursing, Clinical Microbiology, Chemistry for the Health Sciences, Diagnostic Microbiology and introductory courses in sociology and psychology. The school's curriculum emphasizes a core set of beliefs that the patient is a client; health care should be client-centered and geared toward a holistic approach to health care; nursing is a combination of therapeutic care and research; an optimal environment for health must be maintained; and there should be lifelong education for practicing nurses.
EKU Associate Degree Nursing
521 Lancaster Ave.
Richmond, KY 40475
859-622-1942
eku.edu
Excelsior College in Albany, New York, offers both an Associate of Science and Associate of Applied Science in the nursing field. The program requires students to undergo extensive evaluation through a series of eight assessment examinations, a simulated clinical assessment and final "Clinical Performance in Nursing Examination" that lasts two and a half days. Both degree programs require the completion of 67 credit hours, of which 36 hours are in the nursing field; the remainder are general education courses. Students complete several courses in Essentials of Nursing Care, Health Differences Across the Life as well as courses in the humanities, math and sciences. One advantage to the Excelsior program is that the school offers more than 50 examinations that students can take to test out of various subjects and complete general education requirements sooner.
Excelsior offers many of its general education courses--and in some cases, entire degree programs--through online distance education. Another advantage to the Excelsior program is that students can pay an enrollment fee each year rather than tuition rates per credit hour to lower the cost of tuition per course. A monthly payment plan is available for students as well.
Excelsior College
7 Columbia Circle
Albany, NY 12203
888-647-2388
excelsior.edu