The ATU Department of Nursing requires abilities and skills for admission and progression in the curriculum based on those required of a practicing professional nurse. The professional nurse must possess the knowledge and ability to effectively assess his or her patient's biophysical, psychological, social, cultural, and intellectual domains. Further, the professional nurse must competently analyze the assessment data through critical thinking to arrive at a definition of the patient's status or problem, plan independently or collaboratively for a full range of therapeutic interventions, execute all or part of the plans through nursing acts, and evaluate the care delivered and the patient's responses to it. Technological accommodation can be made for some disabilities in certain of these areas, but a candidate should be able to perform in a reasonably independent manner. The use of a trained intermediary is not acceptable, in that a candidate's judgement must not be mediated by someone else's power of observation and selection.
Observation necessitates the functional use of the sense of vision and tactile sensation.
A candidate must be able to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients. Communication includes not only speech but reading and writing. The candidate must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in oral and written form with all members of the health care team. Candidates should have sufficient motor function to elicit information from patients by palpation, auscultation, percussion, and other assessment maneuvers. A candidate must have sufficient motor skills to gain access to clients in a variety of care settings and to manipulate the equipment central to the treatment of patients receiving professional nursing care.