Why choose VCU Nursing?
Because our mission is to improve health and the human condition through leadership in nursing research, education and service.
For more on our mission statement, visit About Us.
Because we are leaders in partnerships with academic medical centers.
The VCU School of Nursing’s partnership with the VCU Health System was cited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as one of the exemplary aspects of the VCU Health System’s review and re-designation as a Magnet Hospital, the most prestigious honor and level of recognition awarded for nursing excellence in national and international health care. The 779-bed VCU Medical Center is a regional referral center for the state and is the region’s only Level I Trauma Center, offering nearly 200 special areas, many of national and international note. The VCU Medical Center has been consistently ranked among the top centers nationwide in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals.” As a result of our unique partnership clinical experts from the VCU Health System serve as adjunct faculty members and preceptors, providing VCU Nursing students with enriched clinical experiences throughout their student nursing careers.
Because we are leaders in nursing research.
The VCU School of Nursing has been consistently ranked in the top 25 of schools of nursing in the country for NIH funding for research. Our recent P30 Center for Excellence for Biobehavioral Approaches to Symptom Management grant firmly establishes the VCU School of Nursing as a national leader in biobehavioral clinical research.
For more information visit our Research section of the website, which has information on the Center for Biobehavioral Clinical Research as well as a list of Grants and Funded Projects.
Because we are leaders in nursing education.
From our beginnings in the late 1800’s when our program was organized following the Nightingale method to today’s integration of state-of-the-science clinical simulation into the curriculum, the VCU School of Nursing leads the way in nursing education. U.S. News & World Report has ranked twenty-seven of VCU’s graduate programs as among the best nationally, and the VCU School of Nursing ranks 36th among graduate programs for nursing. Because of our model partnership with the VCU Health Center, the VCU School of Nursing offers enriched clinical learning opportunities for our students. We offer a full-range of nursing education pathways, including our RN to BS completion program for working RNs who want to obtain bachelor’s degrees, traditional BS program for high school graduates, accelerated BS (18 months) and MS programs (2 ½ years) for students who have bachelor’s degrees in other disciplines, traditional master’s program for nurses with bachelor’s degrees, post-master’s certificate programs for nurses who have already completed master’s degrees and our doctoral program for nurses with master’s degrees who want to pursue academic careers.
Because we are leaders in nursing service.
Sadie Heath Cabaniss, our founding director and initiator of professional nursing in Virginia, set a high bar for us to follow by establishing the Nurses’ Settlement (now the Instructive Visiting Nurses Association), serving as the first rural public health nurse in Virginia, creating the Virginia State Association of Nurses, and helping pass one of the nation’s first nurse practice acts in Virginia. Today, our Community Nursing Organization is working with community partners to establish health care initiatives such as the Mosby Resource Center for low-income neighborhoods. And our faculty, students and alumni volunteer locally and internationally, providing leadership to address the most important health care issues facing our communities.
Because we are VCU.
The VCU Men’s Basketball Team’s win over Kansas to reach the Final Four of the 2011 NCAA Tournament put us on the map in a different way. (We even won an ESPY for “Best Upset.”) But VCU has been on the rise for some time now. One of the nation’s top research universities, Virginia Commonwealth University enrolls more than 32,000 students on two Richmond campuses – the Monroe Park Campus and MCV Campus. The VCU Medical Center, including the university’s health sciences schools, offers state-of-the-art care in more than 200 specialty areas and serves as the region’s only Level I Trauma Center. VCU has garnered “Very High Research Activity” status from the prestigious Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as well as receiving their “Community Engaged” designation, which makes VCU just one of 28 public universities in the country with academic medical centers to achieve both distinctions. For a complete listing of
