Nursing, AAS

A Word About Costs

To become a licensed registered nurse, you must successfully pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). See the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. (NCSBN) website for current cost information regarding registration and licensure fees.

Be aware that as a student in the nursing program, you will also incur costs including, but not limited to books, vaccinations, background checks, medical exams, Tuberculosis (TB) testing, drug screening, health insurance, and CPR (Basic Life Support) certification.

Since the 2020-2021 catalog, total degree credit hours equal 66-70. Total degree hours will be 70 for students needing BIO 157.

What makes MCC's Nursing AAS program better than, or distinct from, similar programs at other institutions?

• MCC nursing program graduates pass the NCLEX at a rate that is above both state and national averages for both associate and bachelor degree programs.
• MCC partners with four-year institutions to allow you an easy transition into a BSN program after graduating from MCC. See RN to BSN transfer guides.

How will MCC's Nursing AAS program prepare me for my career or connect me to opportunities?

• Graduates of the program are eligible to take the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Examination (NCLEX-RN), which may lead to licensure as a Registered Professional Nurse (RN).
• You will experience 12 hours of hands-on, clinical instruction per week in a hospital or healthcare setting, beginning with the first semester and continuing throughout the program.
• Graduates are well-versed in and prepared to use the technological tools and systems that are the standard in healthcare today.

What have graduates gone on to do?

• Students have obtained employment at Advocate Health Care, Northwestern, Presence Health, Mercy Health System, and several area assisted-living and long-term care facilities.
• Our graduates have worked in nearly every facet of nursing, from ER, OB, ICU, acute care, hospice, physician offices, assisted living, telehealth, and long-term care.
• Some graduates have received bachelor's degrees in nursing and are currently enrolled and pursuing their master's degrees.

Outside the Classroom

• MCC's Student Nursing Organization (SNO)
• National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (N-OADN)
• National Student Nurses Association (NSNA)

• Philosophy and Mission Statement

  The philosophy of the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program is congruent with the McHenry County College mission statement and is supported by the works of Marjory Gordon and the National League for Nursing. The faculty believes that:

  Each individual is a unique, holistic being with bio-psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual dimensions in constant interaction with the environment. All human beings have in common certain functional patterns that contribute to their health, quality of life, and achievement of human potential.

  Health is an optimal level of functioning that allows individuals, families, or communities to develop their potential to the fullest. Health is measured by parameters and norms, combined with a client’s perception, and includes multi-dimensional states of health and illness. Ideally, health is consistent with individual potential and allows nursing intervention to be individualized.

  The environment is an aggregate of all the conditions and socio-cultural influences affecting the life and development of a person. Interaction between the client and the environment is an essential, common thread running through all functional patterns. The environment impacts the individual’s functional and dysfunctional patterns.

  Nursing is the art and science of applying a specialized body of knowledge and skills in providing evidence-based, clinically competent care. The nursing process is used as a basis for nursing care decisions and client interaction. The goals of nursing include promoting independence, maintaining and restoring health, or supporting a peaceful death.

  Nursing education belongs within institutions of higher learning and supports educational mobility. The affordability and accessibility of the community college provide an ideal setting for associate degree nursing education. The curriculum combines study in nursing and related disciplines. Associate degree nursing education is responsive to current economic, social, demographic, and political forces, and to technological changes in transforming healthcare delivery.

  Learning is an individual and lifelong process evidenced by changed behavior resulting from the acquisition of knowledge, skills, understanding, and attitudes. Learning in an educational setting is enhanced by a teacher/student relationship in which the teacher’s responsibility is to structure and facilitate optimal conditions for critical thinking and learning through clearly defined educational competencies. The student brings to this relationship the willingness to learn and is accountable for his/her education. Recognizing that both the rate and style of learning differ with individuals, various strategies are utilized to facilitate the student’s achievement of program competencies, attainment of maximum potential, and promotion of continued learning.

  The ADN graduate, having achieved the program competencies, is prepared to practice in a variety of settings within the parameters of individual knowledge and experience according to the standards of practice. The role of the ADN graduate included provider of care, manager of care and member of the discipline. Encompassed within these roles are the core components of professional behaviors, communication, nursing process, clinical decision-making, caring interventions, teaching and learning, collaboration, and managing care.

  References:

  Council of ADN Competencies Task Force, National League for Nursing (2000). Competencies for graduates of ADN programs. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publisher.

  Gordon, M. (1986). Nursing diagnosis: Process and application. 3rd edition, St. Louis: Mosby.

• Mission

  The mission of McHenry County College’s Nursing Degree Program is to develop students who are skilled in the profession of nursing, which is recognized as the environment, patient, health, and nurse. MCC students shall be distinguishable by their critical thinking, effective communication, professionalism, and technical competency. Students will use current and contemporary practices to demonstrate mastery of the Program Learning Outcomes.

• Program Learning Objectives
  1. Demonstrate the attitudes, values, and behaviors consistent with the standards of professional nursing practice.
  2. Demonstrate effective therapeutic communication with clients, families, significant others, and members of the healthcare team.
  3. Utilize the nursing process as a basis for clinical decision-making in providing client, family, and community care.
  4. Incorporate evidence-based interventions in individualized plans of care.
  5. Provide individualized nursing care to diverse patients across the lifespan.
  6. Adhere to professional standards to maintain the safety of self, patient, and environment.