Bachelor of Nursing at Saint Louis University

Saint Louis University's Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing offers students a direct-entry bachelor of science in nursing program with state-of-the-art classrooms and clinical labs, study abroad opportunities, excellent clinical experiences in a wide variety of settings and a low student-to-faculty ratio for all clinical courses.  

SLU's undergraduate nursing students can begin their nursing curriculum during their very first semester on campus with NURS 1400 Introduction to Nursing. Later, you'll learn to respond to the most common events nurses encounter, including chest pains, congestive heart failure, dehydration, confusion and asthma, in our innovative simulation lab. You'll begin these practice lab experiences in the fall semester of your sophomore year and begin clinical experiences in the spring. You'll also complete clinical experiences across all major nursing specialties throughout the program.

The Trudy Busch-Valentine School of Nursing is renowned for excellence in nursing education. In 2020, 91% of our graduates passed the NCLEX on their first try. In 2021, Niche ranked Saint Louis University's Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing as the No. 8 best college in the country for nursing. Additionally, U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks our MSN-NP program as a top 50 program in their Best Graduate Schools survey.

1. Graduates will be able to relate to people as unique individuals possessing worth, dignity, and potential for self-actualization.
2. Graduates will be able to synthesize theoretical and empirical knowledge from the humanities and natural, social, behavioral, and nursing sciences to provide safe, effective nursing care.
3. Graduates will be able to establish relationships based on an understanding of self and others, and of interpersonal and group dynamics.
4. Graduates will be able to practice in a variety of settings with clients of all ages and diverse sociocultural backgrounds.
5. Graduates will be able to utilize critical thinking and problem-solving skills, in the application of the nursing process, to achieve optimal client adaptation.
6. Graduates will be able to assist clients, at any point on the health-illness continuum, to mobilize and use adaptive resources for promotion, maintenance and restoration of health.
7. Graduates will be able to collaborate with interprofessional colleagues, community representatives and consumers to enhance health care.
8. Graduates will be able to apply evidence-based knowledge as the basis for safe, effective nursing practice.
9. Graduates will be able to apply the professional code of ethics and professional standards to clinical practice.
10. Graduates will be able to demonstrate personal and professional responsibility, accountability and self-direction.
11. Graduates will be able to demonstrate leadership principles in professional and interprofessional practice.
12. Graduates will be able to demonstrate understanding of health care policy issues, trends and strategies as they influence accessibility, accountability and affordability in health care delivery.
13. Graduates will be able to utilize appropriate information and health care technologies to enhance the delivery of client care.