Nursing

Approved by the Maine State Board of Nursing and fully accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission Inc. (NLNAC), our Associates Nursing program will provide you with outstanding preparation for practice in structured health care settings such as hospitals, nursing care facilities, and community-based agencies. If you are already an RN with an Associates degree, our holistic Bachelors program is the perfect way for you to advance your career and prepare for graduate school. Our RN-BSN program is in candidacy status for accreditation with the NLNAC. Campus; RN-B.S.N. via hybrid and online course offerings.


 

Associate Degree in Nursing Program


UMA currently has a three to five-year waitlist for the Associate of Science in Nursing program. We are no longer adding to the waitlist for the program and are moving to a competitive direct admission process once the existing waitlist has been depleted. This move will allow qualified students to enter the nursing program more quickly on a competitive basis. For admission to the nursing program under the new process, students will need to have strong grades in the science courses, competitive recommendations, strong writing skills and a competitive cumulative GPA. We will continue to update this website in reference to the acceptance of Nursing applications. To get started, you may choose to enroll in our Liberal Studies - Pre-Nursing program and work on completing general education and prerequisite courses. Current requirements are listed on the program checksheet. Please note that completion of the prerequisite requirements is not a guarantee for admission into the nursing program, but will be necessary for application consideration.

UMA takes great pride in its Nursing Program, which has graduated more than 1,600 RNs over the past 35 years. In virtually every health care facility in central Maine and even around the state, you’ll find UMA-educated nurses filling critically important roles in the delivery of care to patients. A constant in our 35-year tradition of expertly preparing nursing students is a superb faculty who combine nursing experience and teaching excellence. Like the care they show to patients in the health care setting, our faculty display the same care in the classroom, providing each and every nursing student with the attention and understanding they need to succeed.

Along with its outstanding faculty, UMA boasts a new Nursing Center with expanded classrooms and labs equipped with state of the art equipment. This excellent nurse education center provides an ideal setting for learning, while our relationship with Maine General Hospital and numerous other healthcare facilities provides our students with invaluable hands-on clinical experience.


Our ASN nursing majors graduate well prepared to take the N-CLEX-RN examination for licensure as a registered nurse. Once licensed, they can often choose from among a wide array of rewarding and well compensated options.


RN- BSN Completion Program


UMA’s nursing curriculum’s additional courses in the physical sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities also prepare our students who may be interested in pursuing a baccalaureate degree. Recently, UMA has introduced its own Bachelor’s Completion program. Designed for RNs with an Associate’s Degree, the program is perfect for nurses who are looking to expand their career opportunities, earn a better salary, explore management positions, experience self-care and healing modalities, focus on leadership development and change processes, prepare for graduate school, improve patient care, and experience nursing as a caring art and science.

 

UMA’s Bachelor’s Completion program or RN to BSN is an option created for licensed Registered Nurses to expand their knowledge in both the humanities and the physical sciences. The RN- BSN program is offered via a hybrid format with minimal on campus requirements to accomodate working nurses' schedules. With an emphasis on holistic modalities, integral appraoches, leaderships skills, and self-care and healing, the RN- BSN program prepares nurses to create change in the workplace.

 

The RN-BS in Nurisng program has received candidacy status for accreditation with the National League of Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) http://www.nlnac.org/About%20NLNAC/candidacy.htm.  The University of Maine at Augusta  is fully supporting this effort.  The site visit for full accreditation is expected to be planned for the fall of 2013.


SKILLS YOU'LL ACQUIRE

UMA’s Nursing program produces caring, competent, knowledgeable professionals who provide an invaluable service to their communities. Clinical, critical thinking and writing skills, along with an understanding of various systems (health care, biological, family, and sociological) are just some of the skills that our nursing students acquire. Additional skills and abilities they possess are listed below.


CommunicationHuman Development
Facilitating the nurse-patient relationship
Teaching
Advocating
Counseling & interviewing
Public speaking
Active listening
Assessing individual needs
Managing patients throughout lifespan
Understanding basic human needs
Clarifying values
Working with families
Sensitivity to diversity
Working as a team player
TechnicalCritical Thinking
Critical observations
Understanding medical terminology
Psychomotor skill development
Physical stamina
Accuracy with details
Planning and organizing
Utilizing the nursing process
Working under pressure
Setting priorities
Applying theory to clinical practice
Implementing and evaluating plans
Making decisions
Identifying ethical dilemmas

 

Careers You Can Seek

The selected list below indicates a range of career possibilities. For some occupations listed below, a Bachelor’s degree or graduate level of study may be required.

Health Care (Traditional Settings)Health Care (Non-Traditional Settings)
Staff Nurse (all areas of care)
Clinical Coordinator
Supervisor*
Charge Nurse
Advanced Practitioner*
Nurse Practioner, CNS, Midwife*
Home Health Care Nurse
Office Nurse
Infection Control Nurse
Enterostomal Therapist*
School Nurse
Public Health Nurse
Case Manager
Biofeedback Therapist*
Flight Nurse
Day Care Nurse
Health Care/Nursing Research*
Camp Nurse
Parish Nurse
Forensic Nurse
 Education
Nurse Educator
Staff Development
School Health Coordinator
Patient Education Coordinator

*Baccalaureate or Graduate level study is generally required for these occupations.