The South College Bachelor of Science in Nursing program builds on a foundation of liberal arts education, establishing the knowledge base and clinical expertise for the generalist in nursing practice. The faculty supports the commitment to lifelong learning in a dynamic and culturally and ethnically diverse health care environment, promoting client advocacy, achieving and maintaining clinical competency, and providing service for the community and the profession. The Bachelor of Science in Nursing program provides the foundation for graduate education.

The South College Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program aspires to become a baccalaureate program of distinction through an integrated and student-focused curriculum. The Program is committed to providing an education that values excellence in ethical patient care and professional growth and integrity.

The South College Bachelor of Science in Nursing program derives its purpose, mission, vision, philosophy, and objectives from South College. The wellness-illness continuum of care provides the overall organizing framework that serves as the structure for the nursing curriculum, with students introduced to a variety of nursing theoretical frameworks. Related concepts emphasized in the nursing curriculum include ethical decision-making, critical thinking, effective communication, leadership, and management.

A person is a unique, holistic, adaptive, open system. Persons, either alone or in groups, families, or communities, have inherent basic rights and choices. Each person is multi-dimensional with variables such as age, gender, culture, race, religion, socioeconomic status, and lifestyle choices.

Environment is a complex, open system functioning in a dynamic state of change. The environment is both internal and external, uniquely perceived by each person, either alone or in groups, families, or communities.

Health is a dynamic phenomenon encompassing physical, emotional and spiritual parameters. Health is individually perceived and influenced by internal and external factors.

Professional nursing is an art and a science with caring as the core concept. The role of the nurse is to facilitate optimal independent functioning of persons, alone or in groups, through the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health. The professional nurse will utilize critical thinking and the nursing process to plan and implement care.

Nursing education is an interactive process. The faculty of the South College School of Nursing embraces the concepts of professional nursing education as described in the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008).