Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences Nursing Program Review
St. Luke’s hospital, the successor of All Saints Hospital is the root of the Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences (SLCHS). Saint Luke’s Hospital started a nursing college that was meant to train nurses under the supervision of the hospital. Nurses alumni of the hospital pushed towards the establishment of a four-year baccalaureate degree and 1991, the program kicked off. By 2010, the College was changed from a government to private, non-profit status, and this came with the change of name to Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences.
Nursing Program at Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences
The nursing program is the main stream program at Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences as compared to other allied Health programs. Only baccalaureate programs are offered in this college with masters programs being developed for the future. Two programs, one a traditional bachelor option and the other an RN to BSN completion program are available. Both BSN options are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and are approved by the Missouri State Board of Nursing.
Traditional BSN
The traditional Bachelor of Science at St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences is designed to take four years of full time study. Candidates seeking admission into the program come in from two year pre-nursing programs from which they must have completed a total of 63 credits of general education courses. The 63 credits are accepted from any college of the students’ choice as long it is an accredited program.
Students who meet the above requirement may be admitted to Saint Luke’s where they take another two years to complete upper division nursing majors. During the four semesters as St Luke’s, students take a course load of 15 credit hours except one semester of 16 credit totaling to 61 nursing majors. Therefore, to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in nursing from St Luke’s, students require 63 transfer and 61 St Luke’s credits. Completion allows students to apply to write the NCLEX-RN exam to become registered nurses.
RN to BSN Program (Online)
This is a flexible and convenient program that enables registered nurses to advance their careers by completion a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree. RNs seeking admission into the program must hold active licensure and must be involved in professional nursing practice at the time of application. St Luke’s accepts students from any college in the US as long the diploma or associate degree the RN holds is from a nationally accredited program. RNs from such programs can receive up-to 36 lower division nursing credits in recognition of their earlier degree awarded. In addition, successful applicants from accredited programs also receive between 29 and 33 credits of general education courses.
Following admission, students must complete the 61 upper division nursing majors required to graduate and any other remaining credits to make up-to 124 required to graduate. The program encourages application from working RNs because most of the courses are offered online or others delivered in a blended online and classroom attendance format. What’s more, students can choose between the part time and full time study plans and for working RNs, no clinical hours are required to graduate.
Contact:
Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences
624 Westport Road, Kansas City,
MO 64111
