Bachelor of Nursing

The Bachelor of Nursing programme educates and guides students in becoming a Professional Nurse and Midwife. Through learning experiences on campus, within communities and in various healthcare facilities, students will develop the behaviours, skills and capabilities they need to become leaders who value diversity, and who bring careful thought and innovation to their caring practice in nursing. You will become able to craft a person-centred, holistic, contemporary, evidence-informed and resource-sensitive caring practice to support the healthcare and wellbeing of individuals, groups and communities. Nursing caring practice ranges from seemingly simple essential care activities through to complex, sometimes highly technical, care activities – whatever is necessary to support people to meet their self-care needs, stay or become healthy, and experience well-being. Nurses work with their healthcare colleagues across many different contexts to provide safe, quality person-centred care to people, families and communities who have multiple and varied self-care needs across the lifespan.

The training of nurses and midwives

This is a four-year programme offered on the Tygerberg campus and its associated distributed clinical training platforms. The clinical practice context is very diverse, ranging from the public sector health care service settings to the private health care sector, including relevant learning experience in schools, social services, rehabilitation facilities, and non-governmental and non-profit organisations. The curriculum encompasses the study of the Nursing and Midwifery discipline theory and practice across the four years. This discipline-specific learning is complemented by modules in Anatomy, Physiology, Biophysics and Biochemistry, Psychosocial Aspects of Care, Research Methodology, Microbiology and Pharmacology. This is followed by one year of community service after which you will be eligible to register with the South African Nursing Council as a Professional Nurse and Midwife. For further information on the curriculum, see our Calendar.

Career opportunities

There are many work opportunities in healthcare once you are registered with the South African Nursing Council (SANC). Nurses and Midwives work in the public, private and non-governmental healthcare services as well as other health-related industries and academic environments. These opportunities include working in district health services, clinics, community or school health, hospitals, frail care, correctional facility healthcare and private practice, to name a few. This degree provides the foundation from which you can then study further to become a specialist nurse in disciplines such as primary health care, occupational health, operating room nursing, emergency nursing, critical care nursing, paediatric and neonatal nursing, healthcare service management, nursing education, palliative care, oncology or advanced psychiatry. Apart from the specialist programmes, the Bachelor’s degree also provides further opportunities such as pursuing Master’s and PhD degrees. See the postgraduate prospectus for further information in this regard.