Practical Nursing - Certificate

Division of Health Sciences

Fall Semester Start

The Practical Nursing Certificate program is designed to meet the educational needs of individuals seeking a career as a licensed healthcare professional. Graduates are employed in various healthcare settings, including long-term care facilities, hospitals, clinics, physician offices, home health services, and community health facilities. The Practical Nursing Program is conducted over a 40-week period beginning in the f. Classes, labs, and clinicals are scheduled on a full-time basis. The theoretical, lab, and clinical components of nursing courses must be taken concurrently and sequentially.

A minimum grade of C (75%) is required for progression in all Practical Nursing courses.

The Practical Nursing Program has been approved by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing. Graduates are eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN).

The Practical Nursing program at Massachusetts Bay Community College, located at the Framingham, MA campus, is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), 3390 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 1400, Atlanta, GA 30326. The most recent accreditation decision made by the ACEN Board of Commissioners for the practical nursing program is initial accreditation. View the public information disclosed by the ACEN regarding this program on the ACEN website: www.acenursing.org/search-programs.

Program Learning Outcomes

Program learning outcomes available by clicking here.

Admission Requirements

To be considered for admission, students must have the following:

• High school diploma or equivalent, or associate degree or higher
• Completed Admissions Application
• Minimum GPA of 2.5 calculated from prerequisite and corequisite courses that the student has taken prior to application.
• Assessment Technologies Institute, Test of Essential Academic Skills (ATI TEAS) Exam. No minimum score required.
• Completion of English Composition I (EN 101 ) with a grade of C or higher.
• Completion of a 100-level math course with a grade of C or higher or placement into a 200-level mathematics course.BI 217  Anatomy and Physiology II within a five (5) year time frame with a grade of C+ or higher at the time student records are reviewed for matriculation into the nursing program (Note: students may repeat each science course only once to achieve a C+ within the required 5-year period). For applicants who have completed BI 215 and/or BI 217 with a grade of C+ or higher outside of the required 5-year period, the college offers a competency exam to waive the 5-year requirement.

Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS)
Each applicant must submit scores from the TEAS for Nursing Students. Students may retake the test up to two times within a 12-month period. A student’s most recent TEAS score will be used for evaluation. Results are valid for three years. TEAS results are considered as one aspect of the applicants’ admissions profile. No minimum score is required.

Evaluation:
All required components will be compiled into an admission ranking data sheet and reviewed by the Nursing Admission and Progression Committee. Applicants will be ranked based on the following points:

• Admission GPA (calculated from required prerequisite and corequisite courses only)
• Average grade of Anatomy & Physiology I & II
• TEAS Composite Score
• TEAS Reading Score
• TEAS Science Score
• TEAS Math Score
• TEAS English & Language Usage Score

Completion of all admission requirements does not guarantee acceptance into the program.

Nursing Information Review:

Strongly recommended to attend a Requirements Review.

Once students have been admitted to the program, the following pre-program requirements must be completed.

Orientation:

Students are required to attend the mandatory New Student Orientation and registration session

Required Pre-Entry Documentation:

After being admitted into a Health Sciences program, students will receive instructions on how to upload required health documentation to an online platform. Students must submit all documents by the published deadline to be eligible to start Health Sciences classes.

• Medical clearance and proof of immunizations as required by state law and outlined in the Division of Health Sciences handbook and in admission paperwork, and can be found on the Division of Health Sciences’ web pages of the MassBay website by clicking the link, Health and Background Check Requirements.
• Documentation from a healthcare provider of a positive antibody Hepatitis B titer, or of a “non-responder” status. A minimum of 6 months is necessary to complete this process.
• The student must complete the CORI /SORI (Criminal/Sex Offender Record Information) to authorize a search of conviction and pending criminal case information under Standard Required Level 1 by DCJIS (Department of Criminal Justice Information Services). The CORI/SORI completion process is part of the New Student Orientation. A National County Criminal Background check will be conducted as part of the students’ completion of the clinical requirements.

More information is available on the Division of Health Sciences pages and Practical Nursing pages on the MassBay website.