The Saint Camillus International University of Health Sciences – Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (Rome), has established the three-year degree course in Nursing (qualifying for the Nurse Health Profession), degree class L/SNT-1. 

The Course has a normal duration of 3 years (180 ECTS in total) and ends with a final qualifying exam and the achievement of the academic title of “Degree in Nursing”.

It enables graduates to access to first-level Master’s degree courses offered at UniCamillus or at other universities in accordance with the procedures laid down in the respective regulations, as well as access to Master’s degree courses in the LM/SNT-1 class. In addition, nursing practitioners can find employment in public or private healthcare facilities, in community services and home care, and may practice as employees or self-employed professionals. 3 years degree course taught in English.

The Degree Course in Nursing aims to provide its graduates with a cultural heritage and the conceptual and methodological tools necessary for the practice of the nursing profession, as regulated by the profile outlined in Ministerial Decree No. 739 of 14 September 1994 and the Deontological Code of the Nursing Professions, approved in 2019 by the National Federation of Nursing Professions (FNOPI – Federazione Nazionale Ordine Professioni Infermieristiche).

The Nursing Degree Course provides the theoretical frameworks, technical, relational and educational methodologies and tools for future professionals in preventive, curative, palliative and rehabilitative nursing care (Italian Ministerial Decree No. 739 of 1994 and subsequent additions and amendments). In addition, through the development of clinical reasoning and critical thinking, graduates will be able to act consciously, autonomously and responsibly in disease prevention, health education and care for the sick and disabled of all ages. They thus become active agents in the community to which they belong and in which they practice, promoting a culture of caring and safety (Code of Ethics of the Nursing Professions, 2019).

From the first year the study plan includes classroom training activities (lessons, seminars), theoretical-practical activities (laboratories, clinical internships), elective activities and preparation for the final exam. You are admitted to the final qualifying test only if you have achieved 4600 hours of theoretical and practical activities. Each year of the course is organized in two semesters and allows the acquisition of 60 credits. 1 credit corresponds to 30 hours.

Attending class is compulsory for all theoretical and internship activities. Furthermore, the Integrated Course exams can only be taken if attendance is obtained for 75% of the hours scheduled for the theoretical activity.

The achievement of professional skills takes place through theoretical and practical training (internship and laboratory) which includes the acquisition of behavioral skills and which is achieved in the specific work context, so as to guarantee, at the end of the training course, full mastery of all the necessary skills and their immediate marketability in the workplace.

Types of didactic and educational activities

The Nursing Degree Course can comprise one or more types of the following teaching and training activities:

• Frontal lectures: examination of specific topics that are part of the Nursing Degree Course training curriculum. They are given by one or more lecturers in a classroom setting according to an established schedule and attended by all students regularly enrolled in a given course year.
• Practical training: exercises and/or simulations that have the purpose of enabling students to develop and acquire technical, relational and methodological skills in a protected context before or during acting in real contexts. Practical training sessions are coordinated by a tutor.
• Seminars: educational activities aimed at expanding on nursing-related clinical and practical issues. Participation in conferences, congress events and research groups may be considered as seminar activities, subject to prior authorization by the Degree Course Academic Board.
• Students’ elective learning projects are organised to broaden cultural and disciplinary horizons, optimising the preparation and training of individuals by responding to the personal inclinations of each student.

The Degree Course Academic Board organizes and schedules the provision of the above-mentioned compulsory and elective training activities at the beginning of the academic year or, in any case, at the beginning of each teaching period.

The Nursing Degree Course requires that students devote a number of hours to autonomous learning over the three years of the course, in line with the guidelines of the National Conference of Degree Classes in the Healthcare Professions. The latter may comprise:

• The use, individually or in small groups, autonomously or upon recommendation of Professors, of teaching support material made available by the Degree Course in order to promote self-learning and self-assessment, in order to achieve the set learning objectives. The teaching support materials (textbooks, simulators, dummies, audiovisual, computer programmes, ecc) will be placed, within reason, in areas managed by the Athenaeum’s staff.
• Personal study, for exam preparation.

The internship is the irreplaceable way of learning professional technical skills through practical experience and the integration of theoretical-scientific knowledge with professional and organizational operating practice.

The internship activity is intended to enable the student to achieve, maintain and develop quality learning and to enhance a sense of responsibility through targeted support from one or more experienced professionals. It is aimed at the student’s acquisition of specific skills of professional interest, as well as professional technical competences, through practical experience and the integration of theoretical-scientific knowledge with professional and organizational operating practice.