At a Glance

Income:

($73,352 - $112,433)

Key Facts:

• Nurses are in demand!
• Work with a wide variety of people!
• Many career options!
• State of the art training facilities

Cluster:

Therapeutic Services

Class of Occupation:

- Social

Description

Registered Nurses (RNs) make up the largest group of workers in the health care system and are often the primary provider of health care. Nurses handle a wide range of patient care, including verifying and providing prescribed medications and other treatments ordered by physicians, initiating and setting up intravenous (IV) lines, assessing and evaluating patients� status, assisting with activities of daily living, changing dressings for wounds, and educating patients about treatments and ongoing care. In addition to nursing care, nurses provide support for patients and their families during stressful and emotionally difficult situations. Nurses work in all areas of the healthcare system and report to unit or department managers. RNs receive their education through ADN or BSN programs and are licensed nationally by successful completion of the NCLEX-RN exam. Specialization can be based on work setting (i.e. Critical Care/ER or Home Health Care), health condition (i.e. Diabetes or Oncology), area of the body being treated (Cardiovascular or Orthopedic), and type of patient treated (Pediatrics/Kids or Geriatric/Elderly). Advancement is also available through advanced degree programs such as Nurse Practitioner, who function independently from physicians in determining patient treatments, including prescribing medications. Growth in this field is expected to be excellent, with the largest increase in physicians� offices and outpatient centers due to decreased hospital stays for many treatments, and home healthcare and long-term care centers due to the growing aging population.

View the education requirements.

Education Info

Campus(es):

- College of San Mateo

Time to Completion:

4 semester(s)

Type of Program (Cert, AS, BS):

Associate degree

Educational Requirement

High School degree

Cost:

$26 per unit for 41 units

Learn how to get started.

Getting Started

Prerequisite course listing:

- BIOL 250 Human Anatomy
- Chemistry 410 or 192 or 210 or equivalent.
- BIOL 240 Microbiology
- BIOL 260 Human Physiology
- ENGL 100 Composition and Reading
- PSYC 100 General Psychology
- PSYC 200 Developmental Psychology
- SPCH 100 or 120 or 150
- SOCI 100 or ANTH 110
- MATH 120 or Math 122 and 123 or higher math or placement into MATH 125 or higher

Application Required:

Yes

Application Deadline:

February

Start Date:

Fall

Additional Information:

Please contact Jane McAteer at mcateer@smccd.edu for further details.

Program Website:

Click here to go to the program website.