Students with prior experience in the healthcare field, such as Licensed Vocational Nursing (LVN), may apply to challenge courses within the Nursing curriculum and seek advanced placement in the program. Contact the Nursing Department for details. For information regarding advanced placement, challenge by examination, transfer, or the 30-unit option (BRN Regulation, Section 2736.6), contact the Nursing Department Office located in Building S, Room 343. Email contact is ADNadmissions@peralta.edu

NOTE: Transfer-in or advanced-placement students will be admitted only on a space-available basis.

Course Number: NURS 1
Fundamentals in Nursing: Beginning Principles of Health Care
Units: 9
Class: 4 hours lecture, 12 hours hospital/laboratory, 3 hours skills laboratory (GR)
Pre-requisite: Biol 2 or 20A, and Biol 3, and Biol 4 or 20B, and Math 201 or 210D or (204B), and CPR (BLS) certification or Hlted 11, and health clearances: physical examination and negative TB test results
Co-requisite: Nurs 11 and 12
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description: Introduction to nursing in historical, contemporary, and factual perspectives: Nursing fundamentals, changing philosophy of health care, current concepts of health and illness, emerging trends with emphasis on homeostasis relating to promotion and conservation of individual, family, and community health; nursing process and diagnoses. Clinical experience focuses on beginning nursing skills in caring for selected medical-surgical patients experiencing disruption in homeostasis. Course includes in-class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 3A
Perinatal Nursing
Units: 4
Class: 4 hours lecture, 6 hours laboratory (GR)
Pre-requisite:  Nurs 1 and 11 and 12
Pre-requisite or co-requisite: Nurs 13
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  Theory and guided practice in working with other nursing and health-team members in providing comprehensive care of the child-bearing family in perinatal hospital settings. Clinical experience focuses on assuming responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating nursing care of patients using homeostasis as a base, and the nursing process as a tool for intervention. Course includes in- class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 3B
Pediatric Nursing
Units: 4
Class: 4 hours lecture, 6 hours laboratory (GR)
Pre-requisite:  Nurs 1 and 11 and 12
Pre-requisite or co-requisite: Nurs 13
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  Theory and guided practice in working with other nursing and health-team members in providing comprehensive care of infants and children in pediatric hospital settings. Clinical experience focuses on assuming responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating nursing care of patients using homeostasis as a base, and the nursing process as a tool for intervention. Course includes in- class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 4A
Intermediate Medical-Surgical Nursing 
Units: 4
Class: 4 hours lecture, 6 hours laboratory (GR)
Pre-requisite:  Nurs 1 and 11 and 12
Pre-requisite or co-requisite: Nurs 13
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  Theory and guided practice in working with nursing and health-team members in providing comprehensive care of adults in medical, surgical and geriatric clinical settings. Clinical experience focuses on assuming responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating care of patients with increasingly complex levels of physical, social and emotional disruption and adaptation of homeostasis. Course includes in-class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components. 1230.10


Course Number: NURS 4B
Psychiatric Nursing
Units: 4
Class: 4 hours lecture, 6 hours laboratory (GR)
Pre-requisite:  Nurs 1 and 11 and 12
Pre-requisite or co-requisite: Nurs 13
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  Theory and guided practice in working with nursing and health-team members in providing comprehensive care of adults in psychiatric clinical settings. Clinical experience focuses on assuming responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating care of patients with increasingly complex levels of physical, social and emotional disruption and adaptation of homeostasis. Course includes in- class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 5
Advanced Medical-Surgical Nursing: Disruption in Homeostasis
Units: 9
Class: 4 hours lecture, 15 hours laboratory (GR)
Pre-requisite:  Nurs 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, and 14
Co-requisite: Nurs 10
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  In-depth approach to the study of illness: Introduction to beginning practice in advanced medical-surgical nursing and leadership and management with combined lecture, demonstration and clinical experience. Clinical experience focuses on caring for critically ill patients with disruption in homeostasis, and beginning activities in leadership and management. Course includes in-class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 10
Leadership and Management
Units: 1
Class: 1 hour lecture (GR)
Co-requisite: Nurs 5
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  Examination of various leadership and management styles, healthcare politics, and healthcare delivery systems: Examination of student nurse’s own leadership style and evaluation of its effectiveness. Course includes in-class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components. 1230.10


Course Number: NURS 11
Ethics and Law
Units: 1
Class: 1 hour lecture (GR)
Co-requisite: Nurs 1 and 12
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  Legal rights and ethical issues of patients and health care professionals: Legal and ethical issues confronting practicing nurses and the legal boundaries of nurse conduct; ethical issues include examination of values of patients and health care professionals, effect of culture on an individual’s value system, and ethical conflicts; law portion covers legal issues encountered by nurses and methods of resolving them. Course includes in-class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 12
Calculation of Drug Dosages for Health Professionals 
Units: 1
Class: 1 hour lecture (GR)
Pre-requisite: Math 201 or 210D or (204B)
Co-requisite: Nurs 1 and 11
Recommended preparation: Review and remastery of mathematical computations involving fractions, decimals, ratios, percents, simple equations, proportions, and systems of measurement before entrance into the program Eligible for credit by examination.
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  Calculation of the correct amount of prescribed medication and fluids to be given to patients: Weights and measures used in the prescription and administration of medications, and the ability to use mathematical skills in calculating medication dosages. Course includes in-class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 13
Pharmacology in Nursing
Units: 3
Class: 3 hour lecture (GR)
Pre-requisite:  Nurs 1
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  Description and study of general and specific classes of drugs: Mechanisms of their actions, interactions, symptoms of toxicity, and common drugs in each group; and state and federal drug legislation. Course includes in-class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 14
Nutrition and Diet Therapy in Nursing
Units: 2
Class: 2 hours lecture (GR)
Pre-requisite:  Nurs 1
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  Basic principles of human nutrition and fundamentals of diet therapy: Nutrients, their function and food sources, and problems of excess and deficiency; dietary guidelines for health promotion and disease prevention; screening for nutritional risk, assessment of dietary needs, care planning, modified needs of the life cycle, and dietary modifications for common and uncommon health conditions. Course includes in- class lecture and discussion and online and distance learning components.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 15A
LVN-ADN Exam
Units: .5
Class: 8 term hours lecture (P/NP)
Passage of the LVN-ADN Exam is required for admission to the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program with advanced placement.
Description:  Orientation to the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program and examination of LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse) applicants to the program: Discussion of the Associate degree Nursing curriculum, and administration of the Merritt College Nursing program’s Exam for LVNs.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 15B
Pre-Nursing Articulation for LVNs
Units: 4.5
Class: 4.5 hours lecture (GR)
Description:  Bridge course for LVNs (Licensed Vocational Nurse) receiving advanced placement in the Associate Degree Nursing program: Provides the course content necessary for the transition of the LVN into the role of the Nursing student.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 48NA-TZ
Selected Topics in Nursing
Units: .5-9
Class: 0-9 hours lecture, 0-27 hours laboratory (GR or P/NP)
Acceptable for credit: CSU
Description:  See section on Selected Topics. 1230.10


Course Number: NURS 248NA-TZ
Selected Topics in Nursing
Units: .5-9
Class: 0-9 hours lecture, 0-27 hours laboratory (GR or P/NP)
Description:  See section on Selected Topics.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 260A
Nursing Skills Lab
Module A Units: .5
Class: 1.5 hours laboratory (P/NP)
Modular, open-entry/open-exit course
Co-requisite: Nurs 1
Non-degree applicable
Description:  Nursing skills lab for AD Nursing students to practice and improve skills in a self-paced, controlled environment: Focus on nursing diagnosis and nursing care plans, vital signs, infection control/asepsis (basic hygiene and dressing changes), communication techniques, patient safety and comfort, medications; feeding techniques.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 260B
Nursing Skills Lab
Module B Units: 1
Class: 3 hours laboratory (P/NP)
Modular, open-entry/open-exit course
Co-requisite: Nurs 3A or 3B
Non-degree applicable
Description:  Nursing skills lab for AD Nursing students to practice and improve skills in a self-paced, controlled environment: Focus on review of physical assessment skills; fluids, elimination, mobility, nasogastric tube insertion, case studies.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 260C
Nursing Skills Lab
Module C Units: 1.5
Class: 4.5 hours laboratory (P/NP)
Modular, open-entry/open-exit course
Co-requisite: Nurs 4A or 4B
Non-degree applicable
Description:  Nursing skills lab for AD Nursing students to practice and improve skills in a self-paced, controlled environment: Focus on oxygenation and ventilation, IV insertion techniques, diagnostic tests and procedures, infection control/asepsis (complex dressings), case studies.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 260D
Nursing Skills Lab
Module D Units: 2
Class: 6 hours laboratory (P/NP)
Modular, open-entry/open-exit course
Co-requisite: Nurs 5
Non-degree applicable
Description:  Nursing skills lab for AD Nursing students to practice and improve skills in a self-paced, controlled environment: Focus on medications, blood transfusions, case studies.  1230.10


Course Number: NURS 275
Associate Degree Nursing Orientation
Units: .5
Class: .5 hours lecture (P/NP)
Non-degree applicable
Description:  Overview of the nursing program: Requirements of the program, time commitment, scheduling of pre- clinical hours and clinical hours. 1230.10