Nursing (LPN-RN) Advanced Placement Advisement Pathway

Degree Requirements ASN Program Guide LPN-RN Checklist Degree Works

Note: Degree requirements effective for enrolled students beginning Fall 2023. All enrolled students, including matriculating students prior to Fall 2023, can review their degree program requirements and track progress to degree completion with our degree audit and advisement tool, Degree Works.

Our advanced placement advisement pathway provides licensed LPNs an opportunity to advance to an RN. It offers LPNs a pathway to career advancement, increased earning potential, a broader scope of practice, and the opportunity to make a more significant impact in healthcare. It is a valuable investment in professional growth and the pursuit of higher nursing qualifications. Students must have an LPN license and completed all prerequisite coursework prior to the start of this program.

Students must submit official transcripts from high school and every college they have attended and meet the following requirements in order to be considered for this advanced placement option:

• Cumulative GPA of 2.7 or higher
• Algebra - earning a C or higher. From high school or college level.
• Biology with a lab - earning a C or higher. From high school or college level.
• Chemistry with a lab - earning a C or higher. From high school or college level.

PREREQUISITE COURSES (College-Level)

MATH 101 or higher – Math (Quantitative)

WRIT 103 - Foundations in Composition

HLSC 115 - Anatomy and Physiology I

HLSC 120 - Anatomy and Physiology II

PSYC 212 - Lifespan Development (Interconnections)

Degree Requirements ASN Program Guide LPN-RN Checklist Degree Works

Note: Degree requirements effective for enrolled students beginning Fall 2023. All enrolled students, including matriculating students prior to Fall 2023, can review their degree program requirements and track progress to degree completion with our degree audit and advisement tool, Degree Works.

Mission

The Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania Breiner School of Nursing mission is to promote excellence, value diversity, and provide education to meet the various and changing health care needs. The educational process which integrates the concepts from the liberal arts and sciences prepares professional nurses at the associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels emphasizing critical thinking, clinical judgment, and disparate experiences and perspectives.

Philosophy

The philosophy of the Breiner School of Nursing at Commonwealth University reflects the values and beliefs of faculty which provide a strong foundation for each nursing program, associate to doctoral, and contributes to excellence in professional nursing practice. Our program will prepare the graduate to be proficient in nursing competencies for clinical practice.  Our philosophy is based on the belief that nursing is a unique and valuable profession that requires a commitment to caring, career-lifelong learning, innovation, and professional development. We believe that nurses should be competent, compassionate, and provide person-centered holistic care. Faculty believe in fostering a supportive and collaborative learning environment that equips students with the necessary cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills, critical thinking, clinical reasoning, clinical judgement, and commitment to the values of the profession to function as effective nurse leaders. The faculty recognize diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning experiences based on the students’ individual learning needs, learning styles, and readiness. Learning is a continuous, career-life-long process that occurs throughout domains enhanced by an environment that encompasses critical thinking, clinical reasoning, clinical judgment, evidence-based practice, clinical simulation, and person-centered holistic care. In a developmental manner, students will progress from knowledge to proficiency in the eight core concepts. We are committed to providing our students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to succeed as competent, compassionate, and person-centered professional nurses.  

Core Concepts

• Clinical Judgment
• Communication
• Compassionate Care
• Diversity, equity, inclusion
• Evidence-based practice
• Ethics
• Health policy
• Social determinates of Health

Upon completion of the Commonwealth University – Lock Haven Associate Degree nursing program, the graduate is prepared to:

• Provide nursing care across the lifespan, adapted to the health care consumer’s physiological, psychological, socio-cultural, developmental, and spiritual dimensions of health. (Patient-Centered Care)
• Demonstrate professional nursing behaviors, evidencing integrity, legal accountability, ethical responsibility, advocacy, caring and a commitment to lifelong learning. (Professionalism)
• Select informatics and technology to manage information, minimize error, and achieve defined health care outcomes. (Informatics and Technology)
• Select effective and professional communication skills. (Communication)
• Interpret effective relationships with health care consumers and members of the health care team in order to meet mutually determined health care outcomes. (Teamwork and Collaboration)
• Demonstrate the ability to provide nursing care that protects health care consumers and health care personnel from health and environmental hazards. (Safety)
• Evaluate the principles of quality improvement to achieve cost effective, patient-centered outcomes. (Quality Improvement)
• Use critical reasoning and best current evidence to make nursing care decisions. (Evidence-Based Practice)
• Select leadership strategies to direct nursing care, promote change and foster achievement of health care goals. (Leadership).
• Demonstrate professional nursing behaviors related to global health practices that include the effects of the culturally diverse community, from the individual to global perspectives, on such areas as disease transmission, violence, health care policy, and health care economics. (System Based Practice/Global Awareness)

2024 NCLEX-RN Pass Rate: 94%
2023 NCLEX-RN Pass Rate: 96%