Education for nurses includes not only the best technical skills, but also skills in understanding patient needs at all levels. The Decker School of Nursing student receives this preparation in a four-year program firmly grounded in the liberal arts and sciences. Decker School of Nursing graduates continue to pass this exam well above the state and national average. The academic experience of every Binghamton freshman includes the following General Education requirements which provide students with the opportunity to investigate a variety of subjects at Binghamton University and broaden their horizens by taking a wide range of classes. Most of the courses meeting the General Education requirements also fulfill course requirements prerequisite to the nursing major in the junior year.
Students begin the nursing major in the junior year.
Most of the nursing courses have a clinical component, which provide students with the opportunity to apply theory to practice. Students care for patients in all age groups in hospitals, community health facilities, and long term care institutions from in and around the greater Binghamton area to Syracuse and Elmira. In the final semester of the senior year, students transition to practice as professional nurses through immersion in clinical experiences in practice settings in area hospitals and health organizations. Students also choose from a number of two-credit nursing electives which enable them to study areas of particular interest within health care, such as holistic health, play and the hospitalized child, professional ethics, nutrition, sociocultural aspects of health care, computers in health care, and health problems of the aging. For a complete description of the nursing courses, see Nursing Course Descriptions .