The concepts of critical thinking, evidence-based practice, communication, collaboration, professional leadership, cultural humility, professional values, and information technology are introduced in the first nursing course and emphasized throughout the curriculum. Nursing courses focus on enhancing the nursing students’ critical thought process. Evidence-based nursing practice is introduced in the first nursing course and emphasized throughout the curriculum.
Students intending to major in Nursing will proceed through the full sequence of the core curriculum. The Nursing Program shares the ideals and aims of liberal education which permeate the entire university. The core provides an indispensable foundation for the study of the nursing. The Nursing Program values the core especially for providing a broad orientation to the unity of truth, the understanding of the human person as expressed in the Catholic intellectual tradition, and the just ordering of society as developed in Western Civilization. In addition, the collective coursework of the core inculcates the skills and habits necessary for studies within the craft of nursing, such as critical thinking, evidence-based practice, communication, mathematical and scientific analysis, and above all, prudence.
The nursing program at Ave Maria University adheres to the Charter for Health Care Workers issued by the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers (1995). The nursing program should build upon the Christian understanding of the human person as taught in the core curriculum. It should highlight the care of the sick and suffering as a participation in the love of Christ. It should teach and reinforce principles and conclusions of Catholic biomedical ethics. It should promote the true health of the human person. It should foster dedication and excellence in the skills, knowledge, and habits necessary for the nursing profession. The nature of nursing as service to the life of the human person demands such dedication and excellence.
Since the initial graduating class of May 2017, AMU has graduated seven annual cohorts in the BSN Program. The BSN Program has exceeded the NCLEX pass rate goals established by the Florida Board of Nursing and the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing for the initial three cohorts and continues to exceed the state and national NCLEX scores in each succeeding graduating class.
The first four cohorts have graduated a combined 93% of the students who entered the program – exceeding the AMU goal of 90% graduation in each of the past two years.
The first three cohorts each exceeded the AMU job placement goal of 90% of graduates; the job placement results for the fourth cohort are not yet available.
