The Nursing and Health Care Management program includes science and clinical courses unique to the School of Nursing and business and health care management courses from the Wharton School, along with general education courses in the Arts and Sciences.  Students gain expertise in patient care as well as in its management within a highly specialized curriculum. A multidisciplinary approach integrates nursing, business, and liberal arts coursework in a cutting-edge program of study.  Students learn from the finest faculty at two renowned professional schools and experience patient care and research at Penn's top research and teaching hospitals.  Students enrolled in the program have advisors in both the nursing and Wharton schools, and typically complete this integrated academic and clinical program in four to five years. 

Program Content  

The program is multi-disciplinary in approach. Degree requirements are broken down into seven clusters: 

• General Education Requirements: Courses fulfilling requirements in economics, calculus, liberal arts, and a language. 
• Nursing Science Cluster: Courses covering chemistry, nutrition, anatomy and physiology, pharmacology and microbiology. 
• Nursing Clinical Cluster: Clinical core courses enabling students to learn about nursing in varied clinical settings through the course of a patient’s life. 
• Business Core Cluster: The Wharton core of courses providing a basic grounding in business skills. 
• Business Concentration Cluster: Courses in health care management and policy. 
• Program Breadth Cluster: Courses providing a broad-based perspective on the practice of both nursing and management. 
• Senior Capstone Course: A senior capstone course covering research methods as they pertain to health care case studies.

Career Options

The health sciences are one of the true growth areas of the 21st century economy, and their management and delivery are critical to the care of millions worldwide. Health care providers operate at the edge of profitability, and the managerial skills necessary to remain successful have become vital to the survival of any medical organization.

The Coordinated Dual-Degree Program in Nursing and Health Care Management produces leaders in health care and business environments. Graduates are prepared for clinical practice and patient care management in hospitals, community settings, and group practice sites, as well as for positions as business and policy analysts and managers in pharmaceuticals, consulting, insurance, health care systems, nonprofits, and government.