Creighton University Nursing School Review

Creighton University is a Catholic institution of higher learning strongly grounded and following the Jesuit Traditions. Its history dates back to 1878, when the wife of a late rich businessman in Omaha; Edward Creighton donated her husband’s inheritance in support of a school in Omaha through a will. The inheritance was given to a bishop and later, this bishop mandated the Society of Jesus to operate the university. Then known as Creighton College, it started off with two lays teachers and five Jesuits. Since then, the larger family of Creighton became engaged in the development of the college by way of more donations and establishment of affiliated colleges leading to the big milestones of success of the current university.

School of Nursing at Creighton University

The school of nursing at Creighton University (CU) has been offering nursing program for more than 50 years.  Programs in the school include different tracks for baccalaureate, master and doctoral nursing for qualified candidates. All programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and approved by the Nebraska Board of Nursing. The various entry points into the nursing programs at Creighton suit the educational levels of different student groups as explained below:

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

Two routes lead to the award of Bachelor of Science in nursing degree as outlined here:

Traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

The traditional BSN at Creighton University is designed for entry-level nursing students. Under this program, student s can further choose from the four paths available

i)        Beginning or Transfer students

Candidates for this program are those who are coming in as freshmen or those transferring from a pre-nursing program from other colleges. For those who begin as freshmen, the following study options are available

  • Traditional four –year study plan
  • Traditional five-year study plan
  • Traditional study abroad option

Those who enter the program as transfer students take two years to complete the program if they have all the required prerequisite courses. The program is offered in two campuses of the university in Hasting and Omaha. However, students who start as freshmen must be enrolled in Hasting campus but transfer students can enroll in either. Students who choose the study plans with a study abroad option must take a summer session to compensate the time for which they will be studying abroad. 128 credit hours are required for graduation and eligibility to apply for the NCLEX-RN exam.

ii)      Pre-Med Nursing Path

The pre-med nursing path is designed for candidates who anticipate to enter medical school after the completing their nursing program. This program carries a more workload than the above mentioned path. Students must complete 149-160 credit hours, with a minimum of 36credits of pre-med courses. Two study plans are offered:

  • Pre-Med Nursing Four year Plan
  • Pre-Med Nursing Five Year Plan

For the four years study plan, students take extra 3 summer sessions after the 1st academic year apart from the senior year.  For the five years option, students take summer sessions only after the 3rd and 4th years. However, those who choose this option have a greater advantage of taking more pre-med credits as compared to the four year plan. Five year students can take as much as 160 credits meaning more will be transferable to a future medical school.

iii)    Army ROTC  Path

For students wishing to become nurse corps in the army, Creighton University has an option for them. Students who choose courses in the ROTC path have the advantage of getting full scholarships for the tuition fees.  Nurse who train under the Army ROTC path are those who wish to serve in the army as nurse leaders and managers. Like the pre-med path, students who take this path have two study plans to choose from:

  • Army ROTC Four year Plan
  • Army ROTC Five year Plan

Each of the above students attend summer military camps for which they earn credits, the only difference in the two programs is the course workload for each semester as the five year plan is less loaded.  Additionally 4-year students take their summer sessions after the sophomore and junior years while the 5-year students take theirs summers after the 3rd  and 4th  years. The program is offered in Omaha campus and requires a maximum 141-147 or 148-151 credits hours for the four and five year plans respectively.

iv)   Air force ROTC Path

This option is open to qualified candidates who wish to become nurse corps in the Air force. Just like their army counterparts, they enjoy scholarships towards their tuition fees.  For this program, only the four year study plans is available. 133-138 credit hours are required for graduation from this program which is offered only in Omaha campus.

BSN Accelerated

The Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) accelerated program at Creighton is designed for student with a baccalaureate degree in another field. It takes a full time study plan that spans one academic year. Due to the rigorous nature of the program students are advised not to engage in employment during the one year of study.

Admission into the program occurs on a rolling basis and students are admitted into the Omaha and Hastings Campuses. For the Omaha campus, admission is for semesters starting January and August while those who wish to be enrolled at the Hastings campus must wait August each year. 58 nursing major courses equally divided between three academic semesters are required to graduate from the BSN accelerated program at Creighton University and to gain eligibility to apply for the NCLEX-RN exam.

Graduate Nursing Programs

At Creighton University, there are a number of master’s level tracks, 2-doctor of nursing entry options and a number of post masters’ certificate programs as outlined below:

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Degree Programs

The Master of Science in nursing is meant for BSN-prepared students who want to gain Advanced Practice Registered Nurses status among other master-level specialties. Usually, all the graduate nursing programs at Creighton are offered on a hybrid format. On this note, students take most of their courses online and come for on-site instructions every Wednesday. This makes the programs ideal for working nurses. Below is a list of available programs. 

  • Clinical Nurse Leader
  • Advanced public Health/ Global Health Nursing
  • Clinical Systems Administration Track

Under the two Advanced Practice RN tracks (APRN), the following options are available:

Clinical Nurse Specialist

  • Pediatric Nurse Specialist
  • Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist
  • Adult Clinical Nurse Specialist

Nurse Practitioner

  • Family Nurse Practitioner
  • Pediatric Acute Nurse Practitioner
  • Adult Nurse Practitioner
  • Adult acute care Nurse Practitioner
  • Neonatal Nurse Practitioner

Generally, all tracks take two years to complete under the full time hybrid learning format.  Additionally, all students are free to add nurse educator courses to their curriculum even though there is no dedicated track for nurse educators. Students who may be willing to take additional gerontology, oncology and cardiology courses can add them to their curriculums too. But these are only offered on a three-year cycle basis.

Post –Baccalaureate to DNP

The Doctor of Nursing Practice at Creighton welcomes BSN students who want to earn their master and terminal degrees in nursing simultaneously. The program allows students to take a shorter time to earn a masters level specialty together with the DNP. Students willing to take this program must take 70 to 73 credit hours depending on the master level specialty they choose.

All the above master level tracks (apart from the Clinical Nurse Leader track) listed above are available to those who take this path. Generally, the program takes 3 full-time years to complete but part time studies can be arranged for individual students. Just like the masters programs, students can choose to take additional education, oncology, cardiology and gerontology courses just like explained on the masters’ category.

Post-Masters to Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Degree Program

This program welcomes candidates who have earned their master of science in nursing or Master of Science degree. PM-DNP Students are supposed to choose from the following roles which must also be relevant to the specialty tracks they took at masters’ level:

  • Advanced Public Health/ Global Health
  • Clinical Systems Administration
  • Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
  • Clinical Nurse Specialist
  • Certified Nurse Midwife
  • Nurse Practitioner

Courses in oncology, gerontology, cardiology and education offered on a three-year cycle can also be added. Specific details for adding these courses apply to those explained on the master level category.

Post Masters Certificates

For MSN prepared students, three post masters nursing certificate programs are available at Creighton University namely:

  • Neonatal
  • Adult Health
  • Family

Contact:
Creighton University
2500 California Plaza, Omaha,
NE 68178