36 Nursing Degree Programs in Japan

The goal of our master's program is to train future pioneers in the health, healthcare, and welfare fields, professionals who are broad-visioned, ethical-minded, and are ready to promote the kinds of research and education that emphasize the value of human dignity while working hand-in-hand with various health-related institutions.

Our Graduate School aims to foster researchers and educators to become specialist nurses with advanced nursing practice competence and able to promote improvement in the quality of life (QOL) and well-being of people who have various levels of health and have a diversity of values.

Demand for nurse practitioners continues to grow with the sophistication, complexity, and diversity of medical care. In particular, university graduates who received a 4-year nursing education only account for 10% of all the nurse practitioners and therefore leadership positions are in demand. For 4 years, based on a rich curriculum filled with basic knowledge of medicine and nursing technology and by using the latest audio-visual teaching materials, students will develop their sense and knowledge of health, medical care, welfare, and public administration in the area of facility and community nursing practice. In addition, to meet advanced needs, we set up the campus of the Nursing Department inside Chiba-East-Hospital. We are the first nursing education provider in Japan to tie up with a national hospital organization. We also founded "Shukutoku Kyoseien", a special nursing home, at the same time when we established the Nursing Department. Students will have practical training here to acquire nursing knowledge and skills that are required by the field of welfare.

At our university, which is located in the north, we learn, think, and practice what is necessary to interact with people living in the area, cultivate a feeling of compassion for others, and provide appropriate nursing with specialized knowledge and skills. There are students who are. It's lively and you can feel the heat. After enrolling, they learned specialized knowledge and nursing skills, cultivated practical skills through on-the-job training, had the ability to think about team medical care and multidisciplinary collaboration, and completed four years of basic nursing education, and the students were newcomers. As a nurse, I will take the next step. Then, you will start thinking about your own career development, such as how to get the profession you aimed for and how to work further.

Public health nursing is an independent nursing occupation in Japan. All public health nurses (PHNs) are educated as nurses and public health nurses and have licensure as a registered nurse and separate licensure as a PHN. The minimum length of education and training required to receive licensure in Japan is three years for nurses and one year for PHNs. There are various PHN educational programs in Japan, such as graduate school Master’s courses; undergraduate courses; junior college non-degree courses; four-year special training college courses for nurses and PHNs; and one-year PHN schools. Our faculty believes that PHNs should be educated and trained at the graduate level to improve the quality of their practice, so OUNHS was the first school in Japan to establish a Master’s degree PHN course in 2011.

The degree fields in the Master’s program are Fundamental Sciences for Nursing, Synthetic Nursing, Clinical Nursing, Extensive Nursing, and Women’s Health & Midwifery, each composed of one to three study areas. Research courses are offered in each specialty. Certified Nurse Specialist courses (Cancer Nursing, Family Health Nursing, Gerontological Nursing, Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing) are offered in the study areas of Adult Nursing (Chronic), Child Nursing, Gerontological Nursing, and Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. A Certified Nurse Administrator course is offered in Nursing Administration, and an Advanced Practice course is offered in Women’s Health & Midwifery. The Master’s program is designed to develop outstanding nursing researchers and educators, while also training professionals who have advanced knowledge and practical skills who can take on leading roles in nursing practice.

Nursing and healthcare professionals need to be able to understand people as whole persons and possess certain personal qualities such as kindness and being considerate. Classes in the liberal arts and humanity areas are offered to help students turn into individuals who have an insatiable appetite for learning and are ethical and considerate. These courses are also designed for the students to develop superior communication skills. Students can choose from a wide range of electives, depending on their interests.

Students study to become nursing professionals with a rich sense of humanity and high ethical standards. In addition to the Nurse course, we offer two elective course streams to meet the eligibility requirements of national examinations for Public Health Nurse and Midwife. Students receive extensive support from faculty members, both academically and in their college life. The nursing practicum is mostly done at the university hospital located on the same campus. Medical doctors from the School of Medicine also teach nursing students some courses.

Graduate program courses consist of the 3 areas of 'The Field of Basic Nursing', 'The Field of Common Foundation', and 'The Specialized Fields'. 'The Field of Basic Nursing' is made up of 5 compulsory subjects, and in order to cultivate specialist practical nursing skills, they form the foundation of each of the specialized fields. 'The Field of Common Foundation' constitutes 10 elective subjects, providing students with a wide range of insights and offering multi-disciplinary perspectives and learning opportunities that can be put to use in nursing practice. 'The Specialized Fields' consist of the 9 domains of Nursing Management, Basic Nursing, Maternity, and Child Health Nursing, Pediatric Nursing, Adult Health Nursing, Oncology Nursing, Gerontological Nursing, Psychiatric Nursing, and Community Health Nursing, each of which is studied through between 4 to 8 taught courses and practical seminars. In regard to assignments and research in each domain, students are able to deepen both their practical and theoretical understanding by choosing to explore their own particular areas of interest.

The Graduate School of Nursing provides training aimed at those who qualify as a health nurse, midwife, or clinical nurse (including future qualification of these), as a nursing practitioner with advanced nursing skills and investigative thinking ability in clinical practice, nursing administrators with a high level of management skills, and educators and researchers specializing in nursing science.

We have designed a special course in the Field of Nursing. Specialized courses comprise of cancer nursing, women’s health nursing, child nursing, nursing management, geriatric nursing, mental health nursing and chronic care nursing, and community care. Health problems and liver problems have become diversified and complicated, and consequently, the environment surrounding nursing has changed dramatically. In this field, we expect the students to acquire the ability to conduct theoretical research for nursing practices as well as practical capabilities in nursing. We also emphasize the ability to solve problems in terms of the QOL of the people with complex nursing problems at all levels of health, i.e. from the period of disease prevention, recovery, and up to the end-stage diseases.

Graduate School of Nursing will foster researchers and educators who will develop nursing science. We will apply them with the broad viewpoint and the foundation in nursing, in addition to ones’ own specialty and deepened knowledge. We also will foster advanced and specialized personel and will contribute to every range of regional society and various nursing practices. At our program, the students can obtain abilities To carry out the advanced clinical nursing practice with accuracy, precision, and creativity To analyze, decide, act and evaluate based on elevated ethic in the area of specialized nursing area To collaborate with the other professionals and integrate and manage for the future prospect of nursing To challenge the health promotion in Snow Coverage and Cold Districts.

This school produces nurses who can view themselves objectively, evaluate themselves, and continue their own self-development as high-level professionals. Graduates have a clear sense of ethics, nursing commitment, and spirit of inquiry about nursing issues that are needed in the nursing field, and are capable of providing nursing care in medical settings based on more sophisticated specialized knowledge and techniques.

Fukuoka Prefectural University's School (Faculty) of Nursing offers state-of-the-art facilities and superlative training to aspiring nurses. Our reputation for excellence rests upon the professionalism of our graduate body and the remarkable contribution they have made to public health and the greater welfare of societies both at home and abroad. From the point of their matriculation, our undergraduates are immersed in courses and training programmes ranging from midwifery to general care. They emerge, without exception, fully equipped to take their place in the specialist field of their choosing ― confident, professional, dedicated and a credit to both this university and their place of employment. We strive to produce nurses who are well-educated, well-trained, and who have well-rounded characters. Their collective goal is to contribute to the health and welfare of people in the local community. The School of Nursing, therefore, encourages initiative, a flexible approach, and cooperation with other professionals in related fields such as healthcare, medical care, and social welfare.

In nursing, nothing is more important than the ‘heart and mind’. At Niigata College of Nursing, we foster generous hearts and minds that can share the happiness and sadness that people feel.