OpportunitiesDepartment of Nursing

Built on a foundation of support from faculty and fellow Nursing majors, you'll expand your thinking beyond basic skills to ask critical questions that create better outcomes for patients, families, and communities. This makes Gustavus nurses the candidates employers are most eager to hire.

Discover Opportunities with Nursing

  • Clinical Learning Experiences Experiential and community-engaged learning activities provide you with a hands-on way of integrating theory into practice. These activities strengthen your critical thinking and clinical reasoning abilities to foster innovation, a commitment to social justice and lifelong learning, and develop a tolerance for ambiguity. This includes clinical experiences and/or observations in hospitals, clinics, schools, community agencies, and patient homes. Clinical partnerships with urban and rural health care agencies can range geographically from the heart of Minneapolis/St. Paul to Utqiagvik, Alaska.

  • Lab and Simulation You'll be provided with a variety of lab and simulation experiences throughout the Program. During the first semester of the junior year, you will experience weekly lab activities that allow you to grow your assessment and intervention skills and prepare you for learning experiences in clinical settings.
    The Gustavus Nursing Program also utilizes simulated patient care experiences throughout the curriculum. These simulated environments enhance your learning by providing the opportunity for you to nurture and expand your assessment skills, critical thinking and clinical reasoning abilities, and practice techniques related to intra- and inter-professional communication and collaboration. Mattson Hall houses three simulation suites equipped with high- and medium-fidelity manikins. In addition to the manikins, the Nursing Program utilizes role players from the Theatre Department and the community to simulate standardized patients.

  • Off-Campus Studies As a Nursing student, you'll also be able to participate in our numerous short- and long-term off-campus or study-abroad experiences. The Center for International and Cultural Education (CICE) has a complete list of opportunities for students.

    • Short-term programs are generally offered during summer term for academic credit. Nursing students can participate in these at any point in their college career. These programs are offered by faculty in many different departments in addition to Nursing.
    • Long-term programs are offered in countries such as Sweden and Malaysia. If you are interested in studying abroad for a full semester, our Nursing Program recommends that you do this in your sophomore year, and our Nursing faculty are always available for advising questions.
    • Alaska Clinical Immersion: Gustavus senior nursing students also have the opportunity to participate in a 3-to-4-week precepted clinical immersion experience in Fairbanks and Utqiagvik, Alaska for your public health clinical component. During this clinical immersion experience, you will provide health promotion activities for the communities and surrounding villages. While in Alaska, you'll continue to virtually participate in Gustavus Nursing classes back on campus.

  • Internships Junior Nursing students are encouraged to apply for Summer Student Nurse Internships offered by many clinical agencies in Minnesota or out of state. These summer internships are competitive and offer exceptional learning experiences that help prepare you for your senior year, and they'll position you for success in your postgraduate professional nursing practice. Information on these internships is made available during the fall of junior year, and Gustavus Nursing faculty are always available to provide guidance and support in your application process.

  • Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Gustavus Nursing offers premier opportunities for you to engage in nursing research. You can take a research course that teaches you how to identify, critique, and create research in the health sciences. In addition, you'll have the opportunity to be paired with a Nursing faculty member to conduct an original, independent research project where you'll develop, implement, and evaluate your project. You'll also share your project by developing a manuscript for publication or submitting an abstract for a professional conference presentation. Our Nursing students have presented at local, regional, and national professional nursing and undergraduate research conferences.