BN

240 credit points

Duration                    3 years full-time or equivalent part-time*

Available at                Ballarat Campus VIC (Aquinas)

                                Brisbane Campus QLD (McAuley at Banyo)

                                Melbourne Campus VIC (St Patrick's)

                                North Sydney Campus NSW (MacKillop)

*  Note:  part-time enrolment in this course is not available at the Brisbane Campus (McAuley at Banyo).

Admission	Immunisation Requirements
CPR Requirements	Special Admission
International Registered Nurses	Uniforms
Credit	Requirements for Completion
Course Structure	Nursing Strand
Science Strand	Clinical Practice Strand
Units By Semester	Course Structure For Registered Nurses
Course Structure for Overseas Qualified Nurses Wishing to Gain a Bachelors Degree	Elective Units

This course has been designed to prepare students as professional nurses who can work in a variety of institutional and community settings and who have acquired the ability to reflect upon and develop Christian values appropriate to the practice of nursing. The course includes studies related to the art and science of nursing as well as the professional and personal development of individual students. The course aims to develop a graduate who will, at beginning level, be an independent life-long learner, a competent practitioner, a creative and critical thinker and a motivated researcher. Graduates will be eligible for registration as a nurse with the relevant state authority and will be able to practice at beginning levels of performance in the four domains of nursing identified in the Australian Nursing Council Inc. (ANCI) competencies, namely: professional / ethical practice, reflection, problem solving and enabling. Graduates will be able to practice at beginning level in all areas of nursing: for example aged care, community, developmental disability, maternal and infant care, medical/surgical, mental health, and paediatric nursing. Admission Apply to relevant state Tertiary Admissions Centre. New South Wales Recommended Studies:  Not applicable Queensland Prerequisites: English (Sound Achievement, 4 semesters). Victoria Prerequisite: Units 1 and 2 - mathematics (any). Units 3 and 4 - a study score of at least 25 in English (any) and in at least one of biology, chemistry, health and human development, physics, physical education or psychology. Following a review, from 2006 the prerequisite will be: A study score of at least 25 in English (any). Extra Requirement: 'Mature Age' applicants must also complete an ACU Additional Information form available from the ACU National website www.acu.edu.au/forms.cfm or the Student Centre. Immunisation As nursing brings students into contact with various communicable diseases it is a requirement of some facilities used for clinical experience that students have appropriate immunisation. Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Certificate Students are required to have a current CPR Certificate from an accredited source prior to undertaking clinical practice. The currency of the certificate will need to be validated each year. International Registered Nurses Should apply to the ACU International Education Office, 40 Edward Street, PO Box 968 North Sydney NSW 2059 Australia. E-mail: international@acu.edu.au. Special Admission The University accepts various alternative pathways by which applicants may qualify for admission to a course. Prospective applicants need to contact the Student Centre on their local campus for details. Applicants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent and non-school leaver applicants are specifically encouraged to apply. Admission for Registered Nurses Australia Nurses eligible for registration in Australia may apply to undertake the Bachelor of Nursing course. Students who hold a Diploma in Nursing or a Hospital Certificate will be given credit accordingly. International students To be eligible to enter the 90 credit point program, applicants must have completed a three year post-secondary professional nurse education program and must be eligible for registration as a nurse in the country in which they qualified. Applicants who have completed other nurse education programs will be assessed on an individual basis according to their education and experience, in order to determine an appropriate program of study within the Bachelor of Nursing course. Minimum English language proficiency requirements for entry to undergraduate Nursing courses are: -IELTS (International English Language Testing System) with an overall score of 6.5, including an individual score of 6.0 for all tests; or -TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score of 575 and TWE 5.0, or a computer-based score of 230 with an essay rating of 5.0 Uniforms Students will be required to wear the approved University nursing student’s uniform during the clinical components of the course. Details concerning the uniform and place of purchase will be given after enrolment. Credit Credit may be given for units of a similar nature and level completed at another recognised institution. See Academic Regulation 3.9. An official transcript and documentation detailing the content and assessment details of the unit(s) must accompany credit applications. Requirements for Completion of Award The award requires completion of 240 credit points of academic studies (including clinical practicum / field experience) as outlined below. Course Structure Unit Offerings Unit Offerings will vary subject to student demand and lecturer availability. Elective units will vary between campuses and from year to year. The course comprises six semesters of study, including external clinical practice. The timetabling of clinical practice experience during the semester will depend upon the availability of placements, local needs and the models of clinical practice. This may lead to some variations across the three states. In order to complete the course and be eligible for graduation, all units, including clinical units, must be completed satisfactorily and 240 credit points achieved. The course has been organised into three strands: Nursing; Clinical Practice; Science. Nursing This strand forms the core of the course, four domains of nursing are utilised in this strand to categorise the breadth of knowledge and the expertise involved in nursing. These domains will provide a framework for the development of competence in nursing the person, family and community. The domains are: Professional/Ethical Practice; Problem-Solving; Enabling; Reflective Practice. Functional health patterns have been chosen as the framework that will offer students the opportunity to examine the interactions amongst person / environment / health in order to reveal the interactive, dynamic nature of these phenomena in the context of nursing. Utilising this framework, related health issues are identified in Nursing units 1 to 6 which will present students with the opportunity to examine factors that influence the ability of people across the life span to promote, achieve and maintain health, and investigate the alteration in health status. The functional health pattern framework provides a means of assessing the health status of people across the life span. Assessment provides a foundation for clinical diagnosis and decision-making, and the formulation of nursing interventions for the promotion, achievement and maintenance of health. Clinical Practice Clinical practice experiences undertaken in a variety of community and health agencies will complement the nursing strand. Clinical and field experiences will provide opportunities for students to apply and validate new knowledge. Nursing clinical experience is integral in providing the context within which knowledge can be applied, consolidated and adapted, and from which new knowledge can emerge. Settings chosen for clinical experiences will reflect the comprehensive nature of the course. Nursing clinical experiences will be sequenced to provide optimal opportunity for correlation between theory and practice and reflect increasing complexity across time. Students will nurse people from diverse cultural groups. This care will be extended across the life span and through the varying stages of the health/illness continuum. Science This strand is comprised of units that integrate knowledge from various relevant sciences and, thus, it provides students with necessary foundations for critical thinking, for the evaluation of evidence and for a beginning understanding of how nursing practice impacts upon the human body. The science units draw from the disciplines of anatomy and physiology, chemistry and physics, microbiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology. Each of these sciences provides an essential contribution to an understanding of the complex phenomena of interest within nursing. Each science unit is designed to complement the corresponding nursing and clinical practice units with respect to topics and concepts studied. BACHELOR OF NURSING - Course Structure - Ballarat Campus Vic (Aquinas) - Brisbane Campus Qld (McAuley at Banyo) - Melbourne Campus Vic (St Patrick's) - North Sydney Campus NSW (MacKillop)   Strand Semester One Semester Two Semester Three Semester Four Semester Five Semester Six Nursing NRSG106 Nursing 1 10 credit points NRSG110 Psychosocial Nursing 1 10 credit points NRSG103 Nursing 2 10 credit points NRSG111 Psychosocial Nursing 2 10 credit points NRSG204 Nursing 3 10 credit points NRSG215 Introduction to Nursing Research 10 credit points NRSG205 Nursing 4 10 credit points Elective from any discipline area 10 credit points NRSG314 Nursing 5 10 credit points NRSG337 Nursing & Health Care Ethics 10 credit points NRSG315 Nursing 6 10 credit points NRSG303 The Professional Nurse 10 credit points Clinical Practice NRSG104 Clinical Practice 1 10 credit points NRSG107 Clinical Practice 2 10 credit points NRSG202 Clinical Practice 3 10 credit points NRSG214 Clinical Practice 4 10 credit points NRSG305 Clinical Practice 5 10 credit points NRSG329 Clinical Practice 6 10 credit points NRSG330 Clinical Practice 7 10 credit points Science BIOL113 Science for Nurses 1 10 credit points BIOL114 Science for Nurses 2 10 credit points BIOL225 Science for Nurses 3 10 credit points BIOL226 Science for Nurses 4 10 credit points BIOL323 Science for Nurses 5 10 credit points   Total Credit Points 40 40 40 40 40 40

*Elective units will vary subject to student demand and lecturer availability

Course Structure for Registered Nurses

Program For Overseas Qualified Nurses Wishing to Gain a Bachelor Degree