Bachelor of Science in Nursing

A BSN Designed for Adult Learners. Like You.

Your time is now. Oak Point University specializes in making dreams come true for career changers, degree switchers, and those whose calling must be answered now. Our Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program offers a unique student-centered approach that provides supportive in-class and top-notch clinical experiences.

New BSN students after the pinning ceremony

Flexible, By Design

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Day + Weekend / Evening Class Schedules

We offer class schedules for real people with real goals and real-life obligations. We get it. We want you to succeed.

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Earn Your BSN in 16 to 24 Months

Maybe you’re a career changer ready to power through the program. Need more than 24 months to fit nursing school into your busy schedule? That’s fine too.

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Two Convenient Chicagoland Campuses

Our Chicago campus is in historic Wicker Park; our suburban campus is in Oak Brook.

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Hands-On Learning

Our state-of-the-art Simulation Labs, IPE Scholars Programs, and unique clinical opportunities prepare graduates for real-world success.

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Small Class Sizes + Attentive Faculty

Clinicals are limited to 6 students, labs to 12, and classrooms to 36—we want to ensure each student receives the individualized time and attention they need to succeed.

Why You Belong at Oak Point

It’s in you. You know it. The drive. The grit. The empathy. The perseverance. You’re built to be a nurse. Oak Point University has been educating nurses since 1914, and we’ve built a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program for today’s learners—just like you. Your when is now.

Hear Dean Murphey Discuss Why You Belong at Oak Point

Our inaugural 2022 Calling All #BadassNurses Contest received more than 425 entrants; this video features six alum finalists.

Our Program

Getting Your BSN at Oak Point

Earning your Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Oak Point, you’ll have the skills to impact patient care and become a healthcare leader ready to shape the future. As part of the Oak Point family, you’ll be connected to a vast and growing professional network.

Your BSN degree will open doors to clinical and managerial career paths limited only by your personal ambitions and professional goals.

Program Outcomes

  • Formulate nursing care decisions using critical judgment based on nursing knowledge and knowledge from other disciplines to implement evidence-based solutions that improve health and transform healthcare.
  • Create a therapeutic relationship with patients where individuals are viewed holistically and respected as partners in their care.
  • Engage in interprofessional care that incorporates nursing perspectives and advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusivity to optimize the care of patients, families, and communities.
  • Design a safe environment of care that enhances quality, improves patient outcomes, and protects patients and healthcare workers.
  • Develop innovative, systems-based solutions to complex problems in healthcare delivery utilizing information and communications technologies based on best evidence.
  • Exhibit a professional nursing identity that embraces the values of the profession and supports personal and professional development to ensure resilience, lifelong learning, leadership, and satisfaction in the nursing profession.

Curriculum

The BSN curriculum ensures students graduate meeting the goals of the program outcomes.

Credit Hours  //  0

TSS 001 // Transition Success Seminar

This is a zero-credit, pass/fail course designed to facilitate academic success and promote retention for new undergraduate students. The focus is on the development and application of study skills required for college-level work, as well as the identification and minimization of barriers that impede individual student achievement. This course is taught using a combination of classroom presentation and discussion, small group activities, ongoing personal reflection, independent readings and assignments, guest speakers, and individual meetings with the Student Affairs staff.

Credit Hours  //  2

NUR 3000** // Healthcare Concepts and Terminology

Learn the origin and basic structure of medical words including prefixes, suffixes, word roots, combining forms, and plurals. Students will learn correct pronunciation, spelling, and definition of medical terms based on a body systems approach. Students will become prepared to use a professional vocabulary required for work in the healthcare field.  The course will utilize advanced technology relevant in the healthcare field.

Credit Hours  //  3

NUR 3020 // Pathophysiology for Nursing Care

This course focuses on the nature of disease beginning with an understanding of the principles and processes of alterations in cellular dynamics. Pathophysiology, etiology, risk factors, and associated clinical findings for specific diseases are explored along with a brief review of treatment modalities.

Credit Hours  //  4

NUR 3025 // Health Assessment for Nursing Care

This course introduces the nursing student to health assessment and critical reasoning. This course focuses on the concepts, knowledge, and skills necessary to complete and interpret a holistic health assessment and physical examination for patients across the lifespan. Emphasis is placed on the major elements, sequence, and methodology for health assessments and health promotion and disease prevention strategies.

Credit Hours  //  5

NUR 3030 // Fundamentals of Nursing Care

This course introduces entry-level nursing students to essential nursing concepts, theories, skills, and processes that are fundamental to delivering professional nursing care across all ages and practice settings. The student begins to develop their identity as a professional nurse by examining the role and responsibilities of the nurse, including the standards of professional practice and the code of ethics. Throughout this course, students develop skill competence, critical thinking, and clinical judgment, all while keeping the focus on providing safe, effective, holistic, and individualized patient care.

Credit Hours  //  3

NUR 3035 // Pharmacology of Nursing Care

This course will provide the student with an understanding of the essential pharmacological principles of the major drug classifications and prototype drugs associated with each of the main organ systems in the human body.

Credit Hours  //  9

NUR 3040 // Nursing Care of Adults Across the Lifespan

This course focuses on health care needs of patients throughout adulthood with particular attention to older adults. Emphasis is placed on the nursing process, critical judgement, development of professional relationships, planning, provision, and evaluation of care to adults experiencing physiologic alterations. The responsibilities of the professional nurse for health promotion, risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and patient education are examined.

Credit Hours  //  2

NUR 3050 // Ethics for Nursing Care

This course provides the framework needed to critically investigate ethical, cultural and legal concepts, issues, and regulations, their interconnecting relationship, and the ethical-legal-moral dilemmas that may occur in delivering safe, competent, and compassionate care in diverse healthcare settings and with vulnerable populations. Legal issues and their underlying implications, ethical theories, values, and decision-making processes, and the ANA’s Code of Ethics for Nurses will also be examined. Emphasis is on the ethical obligations of professional nurses in their roles as global citizens, members of a profession, providers of care, and designers and managers of care.

Credit Hours  //  2

NUR 3055 // Evidence-Based Practice for Nursing Care

This course focuses on the research process and evidence-based practices in nursing and their significance to nursing as a discipline and a profession. Emphasis is placed on understanding the nurse’s role as a discriminating consumer of research, critiquing published nursing research, and utilizing research for continuous quality improvement in nursing practice. This course incorporates ethical, cultural, and collaboration issues in healthcare research.

Credit Hours  //  5

NUR 4015 // Nursing Care of Communities and Populations

The purpose of this course is to prepare nursing students to understand population-focused clinical practice in community health nursing. Theories from nursing, public health, social, and behavioral sciences are utilized to prepare students to provide culturally competent, safe, and effective nursing care to total populations or to individuals, families, and groups. Special emphasis is placed on the social determinants of health and how they affect health outcomes in vulnerable populations. Primary prevention strategies for populations at risk are emphasized to promote and protect health and prevent disease across the lifespan. Local, state, and global health policies and economic influences will be part of the analysis of community issues and activities. An evidence-based, interprofessional, collaborative approach is taken in community assessment, decision-making, planning, implementation, and evaluation throughout community health nursing practice.

Credit Hours  // 5

NUR 4020 // Nursing Care of Mental Health Patients

This course focuses on the role of the professional nurse in meeting the mental health care needs of individuals, families, and groups in their communities. Theoretical concepts, including biopsychosocial and cultural responses to mental illness, promotion of mental health and risk reduction, psychopharmacology, and multidisciplinary mental health care management are explored. Emphasis is placed on development of self-awareness, effective communication techniques, therapeutic use of self, and ethical nursing practice. Throughout this course, students develop skill competence, critical thinking, and clinical judgment, all while keeping the focus on providing safe, effective, holistic and individualized patient care.

Credit Hours  //  5

NUR 4025 // Nursing Care of the Childbearing Family

This course focuses on the health care needs of the childbearing family in a variety of settings. The role and responsibilities of the professional nurse from conception to post-partum are the focus for discussion and experiences. Selected topics in women’s health are included.

Credit Hours  //  4

NUR 4050 // Nursing Care of Critically Ill Patients

This course focuses on the synthesis of nursing knowledge and advanced critical care skills to address the complex health problems of critically ill patients and their families. The role of the nurse in collaborative care that promotes continuity and quality is discussed. Clinical management is explored with an emphasis on cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity.

Credit Hours  //  5

NUR 4055 // Nursing Care of Children and Families

The focus of this course is to examine social and physical environments that influence pediatric growth and development while also exploring key determinants of health in early life. Core concepts and constructs include health promotion of the developing child, identifying common variations of health parameters, and engaging with families and communities utilizing developmentally and ethically appropriate decision-making. Strategies to promote pediatric health and wellness, advocacy, policy, and teaching will be explored to promote the safe care of children and their families.

Credit Hours  //  1

NUR 4060 // Senior Seminar: Licensure Preparation

This course focuses attention on the knowledge and skills necessary to successful pass the NCLEX-RN examination and become a registered nurse. Test-taking strategies, study skills, and content review and assessment with remediation are emphasized. The NCLEX-RN test blueprint is reviewed as well as the application process and test procedure.

Credit Hours  //  3

NUR 4505 // Professional Nursing Leadership and Management

This course prepares students for the changing role of the professional nurse in complex and diverse healthcare settings. This course introduces the management functions and leadership roles of professional registered nurses within the structure of an organization and is grounded in evidence-based leadership principles. Accountability for quality improvement in the provision of nursing care, interprofessional communication, and collaborative relationships are emphasized. Legal authority for nursing practice, the impact of political and legislative processes, and ethical issues in management are also discussed. Various modes of inquiry, including nursing process, problem-solving models, and decision-making tools are explored. There is an emphasis on team building, communication, priority setting, collaborative decision-making, systems thinking, and advocacy.

Credit Hours  //  4

NUR 4510 // Transition to Professional Nursing Practice

This course prepares the BSN candidate for the transition from nursing student to professional registered nurse through weekly seminars and a precepted clinical experience. The seminars provide a forum for peer exchange and support as students synthesize nursing concepts, evaluate professional issues, and more fully assimilate nursing values into their professional nursing identity. The focus of clinical practice is centered on the use of the nursing process, refinement and expansion of skills, and application of professional behaviors within the context of a mentored clinical experience.

Credit Hours  //  4

ELECTIVE // Choice of One Nursing Elective

NUR 3000**, NUR 3045, NUR 4930, NUR 4935, NUR 4940, or NUR4970

**NUR3000: Healthcare Concepts and Terminology is only required for those admitted by Committee to the University. This course also fills the elective requirement.

Semester Plans

Oak Point offers a 4-, 5-, and 6-semester Bachelor of Science in Nursing plans for our students. The study of nursing is intense; the 5- and 6-semester are by far the most popular. Students who meet the additional educational requirements may interview for acceptance into the 4-semester program.

Sample Full-Time, Five-Semester BSN Schedule

Assumes all prerequisite coursework is complete.

Total Credits  //  12

Semester One
  • NUR 3020: Pathophysiology for Nursing Care (3 credits)
  • NUR 3025: Health Assessment for Nursing Care (with Lab component) (4 credits)
  • NUR 3030: Foundations of Nursing Care (with Clinical and lab component) (5 credits)

Total Credits  //  14

Semester Two
  • NUR 3035: Pharmacology for Nursing Care (3 credits)
  • NUR 3040: Nursing Care of Adults Across the Life Span (with clinical component) (9 credits)
  • Nursing Elective  (2 credits)

Total Credits  //  12

Semester Three
  • NUR 4020: Nursing Care of Mental Health Patients (with clinical component) (5 credits)
  • NUR 3050: Ethics for Nursing Care (2 credits)
  • NUR 4025: Nursing Care of the Childbearing Family (with clinical component) (5 credits)

Total Credits  //  12

Semester Four
    • NUR 3055: Evidence-Based Practice for Nursing Care (2 credits)
    • NUR 4055: Nursing Care of Children and Families (with clinical component) (5 credits)
    • NUR 4015: Nursing Care of Communities and Populations (with clinical component) (5 credits)

Total Credits  //  13

Semester Five
  • NUR 4050: Nursing Care of Critically Ill Patients (5 credits)
  • NUR 4505: Professional Nursing Leadership and Management (3 credits)
  • NUR 4060: Senior Seminar: Licensure Preparation (1 credit)
  • NUR 4510: Transition to Professional Nursing Practice (4 credits)

Bachelor of Science in Nursing Clinical Placement

Oak Point University is committed to providing a diverse hands-on clinical experience that prepares students for their nursing careers. Students will work alongside nursing professionals to apply their theoretical and practical skills in a clinical setting.

Bachelor of science in nursing student Jacqueline B.
Clinical Practice

Clinical practice is the core method of learning in the nursing profession. The clinical experience provides hands-on learning where students apply their theoretical and practical knowledge to develop confidence when working with patients in any healthcare-related setting.

Oak Point University has established strong partnerships with hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, palliative care facilities, public school systems, specialty camps, and professional community healthcare institutions. Each clinical partner is committed to supporting the Oak Point University curriculum and providing a rich learning environment for all students.

Nursing students will receive their clinical placement assignment from the Clinical Placement Office before the start of each clinical term. Clinical schedules mirror the experience of a registered nurse and are not adjusted to accommodate work or other commitments outside of school.

Travel + Transportation Requirements

Oak Point University understands the importance of providing an enriching clinical learning experience, in a proper healthcare setting, for all students. To provide the best educational experience for our students, we place students within a 50-mile radius of campus.

Students must have a car to ensure timely and reliable transportation to any assigned location. Students are responsible for any costs associated with their clinical experience, including, but not limited to, parking and gas.

To provide the best educational experiences for our students, there will be a wide variety of clinical locations, which include hospitals, academic health systems, ambulatory sites, clinics, rehabilitation centers, home/hospice health agencies, senior facilities, school districts, and skilled nursing facilities.

Clinical Site Compliance

Oak Point University is committed to providing diverse clinical experiences that prepare students for their careers. The Clinical Placement Office works with more than 60 partners to provide optimal learning experiences. Brightspace, the University’s Learning Management System, is the system that holdsf your clinical site documents per term.

Compliance Expectations

Students must be compliant with clinical site requirements to participate in clinical. Failure to meet health or site requirements may result in loss of clinical placement, will prevent participation in class and clinical, and could potentially result in delaying graduation. Check CastleBranch monthly for health requirements that may require renewal.

Role Transition Clinical

Role Transition is designed to assist students with transitioning to the professional nursing role through a preceptor-based clinical experience. The Role Transition clinical was designed to allow students to shadow a bachelors-prepared RN who serves as their preceptor.

A clinical instructor from Oak Point University oversees the preceptor-student relationships for a group of Role Transition students at one of our partnering facilities. Students are required to complete 160 clinical hours. The day and evening/weekend students can be scheduled for any shift, any day of the week, which could be the following shifts:

  • 7:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
  • 7:00 p.m.–7:00 a.m
  • 7:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
  • 3:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m.

Why Oak Point?

We’ve been educating nurses since 1914. That’s right, since before more than half of the people in the U.S. had the right to vote.

We believe in creating healthier tomorrows. We do this by educating those whose calling it is to be a nurse. And we will be with you every step of the way.

From this point forward …

Hands-On Learning in Our State-of-the-Art Simulation Centers

“Be a nurse in practice” to experience real-world scenarios in a safe setting.

Participate in Unique Clinical Opportunities

Explore clinical environments beyond the hospital or physician’s office, such as children’s oncology camps and home health and hospice.

Graduate as an IPE Scholar

Let future employers know you are serious about becoming a well-versed and safe practitioner.

Engaged Faculty and Small Class Sizes

Class sizes are limited to 36 for classroom instruction, 12 for labs, and 6 for clinicals.

Become Part of a Dependable, Lifetime Network

You’ll create a vast network of friends, alums, and colleagues that will help you to flourish and give back throughout your lifetime.

Nursing By the Numbers

Yep. We’re Built to Be Badass!

203.2K

Yearly Projected Job Openings

Projected over the decade.1

$77.6

Median Annual Pay

As of May 20212

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Registered Nurses. Retrieved at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm (visited August 3, 2023).
2 Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Registered Nurses. Retrieved at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm (visited August 3, 2023).

Nursing students entering Oak Point University's new Oak Brook campus

Clinical Opportunities for Bachelor of Science in Nursing Students

Experiential Hands-On Learning

Clinical experiences are an essential component of nursing education. During clinicals, nursing students work under the supervision of a clinical instructor to gain hands-on experience in a healthcare setting.

In clinicals, nursing students can apply what they have learned in the classroom to real-world situations. They work with patients, taking vital signs, administering medication, performing basic nursing skills, and providing patient care. Clinicals provide nursing students with the opportunity to practice critical thinking and decision-making skills, as well as to learn how to collaborate with other healthcare professionals.

Nursing clinicals take place in a variety of settings, including hospitals, long-term care facilities, clinics, and community health centers.

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