1. Educate graduates to deliver safe, patient-centered nursing care to a diverse population with health alterations in structured health care settings.
2. Eighty percent of most recent graduates pass the NCLEX-RN exam as first-time test takers within 12 months.
3. Fifty five percent of students who start the first semester will graduate within 100% of the program length.
4. Eighty percent of graduates will indicate employment as a registered nurse 6 – 12 months after graduation.

Students who complete the Associate Degree of Applied Science with a major in Nursing will be expected to:

1. Provide client-centered care promoting therapeutic relationships, caring behaviors, and self-determination across the lifespan for diverse populations.
   • Coordinate client centered care delivery with sensitivity and respect.
   • Evaluate the effectiveness of teaching plans and outcomes and revise for achievement of desired outcomes.
   • Promote client self-determination in making healthcare decisions as a level 4 student.
   • Integrate therapeutic communication skills when interacting with clients and the client’s support network.
   • Advocate independently for diverse individuals, families, and communities across the lifespan.
2. Practice safe nursing care that minimizes risk of harm across systems and client populations.
   • Evaluate human factors and safety principles.
   • Participate in the analysis of errors and designing system improvements.
   • Incorporate client safety initiatives into the plan of care.
   • Practice safe client care as a level 4 student.
3. Demonstrate nursing judgment through the use of clinical reasoning, the nursing process, and evidence-based practice in the provision of safe, quality care.
   • Evaluate an individualized plan of care based on client values, clinical expertise and reliable evidence.
   • Independently prioritize changes in client status and intervene appropriately.
   • Apply the nursing process to guide care.
   • Prioritize client care using evidence-based practice independently.
   • Evaluate existing practices and seek creative approaches to problem solving.
4. Practice professional behaviors that encompass the legal/ethical framework while incorporating self-reflection, leadership and a commitment to recognize the value of life-long learning.
   • Incorporate ethical behaviors and confidentiality in the practice of nursing.
   • Assume responsibility and accountability for delivering safe client care.
   • Deliver nursing care within the scope of nursing practice.
   • Evaluate professional behaviors in interactions with clients, families and healthcare providers.
   • Engage in reflective thinking for the purpose of improving nursing practice.
   • Develop a plan for lifelong learning in the nursing profession.
5. Manage client care through quality improvement processes, information technology, and fiscal responsibility to meet client needs and support organizational outcomes.
   • Evaluate the common quality measures encountered in clinical practice.
   • Evaluate the use of technology and information management to promote quality.
   • Evaluate fiscally responsible client care.
6. Demonstrate principles of collaborative practice within the nursing and healthcare teams fostering mutual respect and shared decision-making to achieve stated outcomes of care.
   • Compare and contrast the effectiveness of the members of the interdisciplinary team to promote optimal client outcomes.
   • Participate in the interdisciplinary plan of care to promote optimal client outcomes.
   • Evaluate communication strategies that are inclusive of various communication and cultural differences.
   • Evaluate management skills and principles of delegation when working with other members of the health care team.
   • Reflects at a professional level on individual and team performance

Employment opportunities for registered nurses include staff positions in hospitals, extended care facilities, physicians’ offices, clinics, and other structured health care settings and is designed to prepare graduates to be contributing members of the health care team.

Admission to the Program 

Students who meet the minimum requirements may enter the nursing program, as space is available. Wytheville Community College has standing contractual obligations with affiliating clinical agencies to ensure that all students admitted to the nursing program meet the minimum requirements prior to entering in the clinical setting. The minimum requirements are: 

Mandatory Criteria:

_{*If the applicant does not meet the high school prerequisites, they may gain proficiency through the college’s developmental courses. The high school requirements may be waived if BIO 141 and BIO 142 (Anatomy and Physiology I and II) are completed with a grade of “C” or better;}

Students must submit:

If there are more qualified applicants than space, the selective admission process will apply by ranking of the following:

Students will receive an acceptance letter via email to the nursing program in the Spring prior to their first nursing semester. Students will indicate acceptance or rejection of their offered space via email survey. Students who reject their offer of acceptance or do not accept by the stated due date, will have to re-apply to the nursing program in order to be considered for a position in the nursing program for subsequent years. Students must possess the technical skills required for the nursing program. Students are required to attend a formal orientation program. See Requirements for clinical participation policy. 

Students from other programs who have been dismissed or withdrawn from said programs because of failing to meet academic or other standards established by that program will NOT be considered for transfer to the WCC Program. Applicants must be in good standing at their previous college with a “C” average or better and must provide documentation of eligibility to continue in the regular sequence of course work without repeating a course in that nursing program. 

All applicants are advised that the Commonwealth of Virginia Board of Nursing Statutes and Regulations (54.1-3007) state the following:

• Regarding refusal, revocation, or suspension, censure, or probation. The Board may refuse to admit a candidate to any examination, refuse to issue a license or certificate to any applicant and may suspend any license or certificate for a stated period or indefinitely, or revoke any license or censure or reprimand any licensee or certificate holder or place him on probation for such time as it may designate for any of the following causes:
• Fraud or deceit in procuring or attempting to procure a license;
• Unprofessional conduct;
• Willful or repeated violation of any of the provisions of this chapter;
• Conviction or any felony or any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude;
• Practicing in a manner contrary to the standards of ethics or in such a manner as to make his practice a danger to the health and welfare of patients or to the public; Use of alcohol or drugs to the extent that such use renders him unsafe to practice, or any mental or physical illness rendering him unsafe to practice;
• The denial, revocation, suspension or restriction of a license or certificate to practice in another state, the District of Columbia or a United States possession or territory; or
• Abuse, negligent practice, or misappropriation of a patient's or resident's property.