Professional Nursing

• This program is offered only in Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin

The objective of this program is to provide the knowledge, clinical skills, nursing values, and experience necessary for an entry-level professional nursing position; and in turn facilitate competency in the core components of professional nursing: professional behavior, communication, assessment, clinical decision-making, caring interventions, teaching and learning, collaboration, and managing care. This program is designed to prepare the graduate to utilize and apply the nursing process (assessment, diagnosis, planning, intervention, and evaluation) to provide care across the life span and in diverse settings within the healthcare continuum. Upon graduating from this program, the graduate will have met the educational prerequisites to sit for the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX- RN®).

• Hospitals
• Clinics
• Rehabilitation Centers
• Long-Term Care Facilities

1. Applicants pursuing admittance into the Professional Nursing program must meet one of the following requirements to be deemed eligible for Admission
   • Achieve a score on the School of Nursing and School of Health Sciences Entrance Exam acceptable for admission:
     • HESI® Admission Assessment, a Cumulative Score of 70% or higher. The Cumulative Score must include Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary & General Knowledge, Basic Math Skills, and Anatomy & Physiology exams, or
     • TEAS Admission Assessment for all campuses except Illinois, a Total Score of 62% or higher.
     • TEAS Admission Assessment for Illinois campuses, a Total Score of 68% or higher and a Reading score of 68% or higher.
   • Conferred bachelor’s degree or higher with a minimum GPA of 2.25 from a United States (U.S.) accredited institution of higher learning as recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). The official transcript showing the conferred degree must be received by the University no later than the sixth business day of the first quarter of enrollment or the student will be withdrawn.
2. In addition to the Application, Enrollment and Acceptance Requirements, entrants who have successfully completed the School of Nursing Entrance Exam must complete the following programmatic specific Acceptance Requirements:
   • Health physical and proof of immunizations in accordance with the School of Nursing Student Handbook.
   • Criminal background screening.
   • The entrant will be required to have current Basic Life Saving and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Certification with Defibrillator. A valid certification is defined in the School of Nursing Undergraduate Student Handbook.
   • The School of Nursing Orientation.
   • Any additional program-specific requirements as specified at the time of enrollment.
   • Entrants with prior college credits will receive a transcript evaluation during the admissions process.

Entrants will receive written communication from the University confirming acceptance once all acceptance requirements have been met.

In addition to meeting all other acceptance requirements, Illinois, Kansas and Wisconsin campus applicants must successfully pass a background check through Rasmussen University’s chosen third-party vendor. At Illinois campuses, an additional background check may also be required during active enrollment prior to practicum or clinical placement depending on site requirements. In addition to meeting all other acceptance requirements, Minnesota applicants enrolled through Mankato must successfully pass a background check through the Minnesota Department of Human Services. In addition to meeting all other acceptance requirements, Minnesota applicants enrolled through Moorhead or St. Cloud must successfully pass two background checks: one through Rasmussen University’s chosen third-party vendor, and one through the Minnesota Department of Human Services. An additional background check may also be required during active enrollment prior to practicum or clinical placement depending on site requirements. Any prospective student must also consider their history, lifestyle, and future actions before enrolling in this program, and carefully consider whether their actions may prevent them from attaining employment in the field they choose to pursue. Additional requirements, such as industry-specific training may be required to obtain employment in this field. Applicants for careers in this field may be subject to pre-employment screenings such as, but not limited to, criminal background checks, and drug/or alcohol testing. Employment decisions, including whether to require background checks and other tests, are made at the discretion of the employer.

The Professional Nursing Associate’s Degree is only offered at the Aurora/Naperville*, Mokena/Tinley Park*, Rockford*, and Romeoville/Joliet campuses in Illinois, the Overland Park and Topeka* campuses in Kansas; the Mankato, Moorhead, and St. Cloud campuses in Minnesota; and the Green Bay and Wausau campuses in Wisconsin. The Professional Nursing Associate’s Degree is not offered in North Dakota. (*The Aurora/Naperville, IL, Mokena/Tinley Park, IL and Rockford, IL campuses are extension campuses of the Romeoville/Joliet, IL, program; and the Topeka, KS, campus is an off- campus instructional site of the Overland Park, KS, program).

The Professional Nursing Associate’s Degree contains both online and residential courses and is designed to meet the educational requirement to apply for licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN) in Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. While this program is only offered at select campuses in those states, it has been determined that this program meets the educational requirements for licensure as an RN in additional states as displayed below. "Meets" means that the program meets the educational requirements for professional licensure. "Undetermined" means that Rasmussen makes no determination whether this program meets the educational requirements for professional licensure and prospective students located in these states cannot enroll in this program. Other licensure eligibility requirements may apply; please verify your eligibility against applicable rules, which may change at any time.

• Meets: MN, WI, ND, SD, IA, FL, AL, GA, IL, IN, KS, MO, MT
• Undetermined: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, HI, ID, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WV, WY, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands

Applicants to this program must meet program-specific admissions requirements in addition to all general Rasmussen University admissions requirements. Please see the application procedures for this program under Academic Information and University Policies.

Students enrolled in this program who fail or withdraw from a core Nursing course must successfully repeat that same course in the next quarter the course is offered in order to progress in this program. Additionally, in order to take a course that lists a prerequisite, the student must have successfully completed the prerequisite course prior to registering for the post-requisite course. A student who drops, withdraws, or fails a prerequisite course will be withdrawn from any future courses that classify that course as a prerequisite; for additional information, see the Course Descriptions section.

To graduate from this program, students must complete all required NUR coursework with a grade of C or better, achieve all required skill competencies, and satisfactorily complete all required clinical learning experiences.