So you want to be a nurse, but you’re not sure you want to work in a hospital. Or maybe hospital nursing is the right choice for you, but you’d like to specialize in psychiatric nursing. Or perhaps you know that to really advance in your career, you’ll need a graduate degree.
Well, don’t worry. At URI’s College of Nursing, you will be exposed to a wide range of career options, and you’ll have some of the top people in their fields showing you the ropes. As the only university in Rhode Island to offer not only a bachelor’s degree in nursing but also a master’s degree, doctor of philosophy in nursing and the doctor of nursing science, URI is the place for comprehensive nursing education.
You’ll get clinical experiences at any nursing school, but at URI, you’ll start them earlier, and they’ll be tailored to meet your specific interests. Plus, our clinical experiences are all over the health care map – from school nursing to nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities to flu clinics, and prison clinics to community centers serving the uninsured and homeless. And we even have a program that pairs you up with a practicing nurse in a local hospital. We also offer a special focus on thanatology, the study of death and dying with a nursing focus that exposes students to bereavement, long-term illness and hospice care. The College also offers specializations in gerontology, pediatrics and psychiatric nursing.
Recent graduate Janelle Amoako’s experience is a prime example of the range of options open to nursing students. “I am looking at medical-surgical positions, since you are working with many different patients, and you have such an opportunity to broaden your skills,” she said. “I would like to branch out into community health and international health. With my family’s heritage in Ghana, I still have a soft spot for helping there.”
Genesis Santos is a campus leader and a nursing major and psychology minor who can’t say enough about the positive experience she has had at the College of Nursing.
“I really liked the location of the University, and the fact that it was far away from my hometown but close enough for me to go back if I needed to. The nursing program appealed to me in more ways than one. I really fell in love with what the program had to offer,” said Santos.
Nursing students also benefit from faculty members who are as renowned for their research and inventions as they are for excellence in primary care, community service and workforce development. For instance, you’ll get to learn in an environment that features top researchers like Denise Coppa, who is working with two local community health centers to prepare nurse practitioners to serve impoverished communities; Deb Erickson-Owens, who is collaborating with retired nursing professor Judith Mercer on the effects of delayed umbilical cord clamping on pre-term and full-term infants; Patricia Burbank, a national expert on health behavior change, improving the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender elders, and changing attitudes toward older adults; and Ginette Ferszt, a leader on nursing in correctional facilities who gained national attention for her study of and efforts to eliminate the use of shackles and other restraints for women inmates in labor.
Without a doubt, the nursing curriculum at URI provides a wide array of opportunities for students to function professionally in community and home care settings, to apply physical assessment skills, and to integrate current evidence into practice so you are well prepared to follow your calling.