General Requirements

BACKGROUND CHECK

All students accepted into the NHC Nursing Program will be accepted conditionally, based on the satisfactory completion of a criminal background check. Students must complete the background checks with NHC-approved companies. Students who have any problem on the background check must submit a completed Declaratory Order from the Board of Nursing, which can be accessed at ftp://www.bon.state.tx.us/DOapp.pdf. This may be a long process, so please start at least a year in advance.

Students must be physical and emotionally able to meet all program requirements including the rendering of safe nursing care in the clinical setting. These abilities involve lifting, moving, bathing and transferring patients in and out of bed, calculating medications, and being able to communicate clearly and effectively with patients and members of the health care community.

Nursing care involves exposure to patients with infectious and blood-borne diseases. After acceptance, students MUST submit a signed and completed Nursing Immunization Form and Physical Examination Form as required by the Texas Board of Health Rules.

The Hepatitis B immunization series MUST be COMPLETE prior to beginning the Nursing Program. Students must have a physical exam prior to the first day of clinical which certifies that they are physically and emotionally capable of performing the duties of a nurse.

Students in the nursing program are strongly encourage to carry a personal health policy. The College and clinical facilities are not responsible for any claims for expenses that result from an action of a student in the clinical setting. Although the clinical facilities provide access to acute emergency care in the event of an accident or injury to a student, the student is responsible for all expenses incurred.

All nursing students are required to carry professional liability insurance. Fees collected at the time of registration cover the cost of a college student blanket policy with a major insurance carrier.

To remain in good standing and progress within the ADN curriculum, students must (1) maintain a cumulative grade point of 2.0 and (2) attain a grade of “C” or better in each nursing and biology course. Students must successfully complete all concurrent courses to advance to the next level. Standardized testing will be used throughout the nursing program to determine progression.

Students will be required to take nationally-normed tests throughout the curriculum and to make a satisfactory score on each test. In the last semester of the curriculum, students must achieve a satisfactory exit exam in VNSG 1219 in order to pass the course and graduate from the program. Students scoring less than a satisfactory score will be required to complete remediation and retesting. The student will receive an I “Incomplete” grade in VNSG 1219 until the exam is passed. The student will have until the end of the next long semester to remediate and pass the exam. Failure to pass the test during this time frame will result in failure of the course. Costs of the exams and the remediation are the student’s responsibility.

Students who do not make acceptable scores will be required to remediate. Students will be required to make an acceptable score on a second exam following remediation. Students will be required to take nationally-normed tests throughout the curriculum and to make a satisfactory score on each test. In the last semester of the curriculum, students must achieve a satisfactory exit exam score in RNSG 2272 in order to pass the course and graduate from the program. Students scoring a less than satisfactory score will be required to complete remediation and retesting. The student will receive an I “Incomplete” grade in RNSG 2272 until the exit exam is passed. The student will have until the end of the next long semester to remediate and pass the exam. . Failure to pass the test during this time frame will result in failure of the course. Costs of the exams and the remediation are the student’s responsibility.