Learn Nursing with Online Courses, Classes, & Lessons

Take free online classes and courses in healthcare including a course on how to teach through simulation, a method used in nursing education.

What is Nursing?

Nursing is a professional health care field that is dedicated to providing care for people in need. Nurses provide a broad range of care services depending on their level of training or specialization and can work independently or collaboratively with physicians and other health care providers. Nursing is a regulated field and individuals must complete advanced education programs and obtain certifications before they can practice.

Online Nursing Courses and Programs

Nursing school includes courses in biology, chemistry, psychology, sociology, pharmacology and other sciences along with the development of clinical nursing skills through the delivery of actual patient care. Students learn human anatomy, human physiology, infant care, critical care practices and much more in bachelor of nursing (BSN) programs or even MSN degree programs that involve months of study with hundreds of hours of clinical experience.

EdX offers many free online science courses that can introduce you to areas of medical science important for the study of nursing. Learn about human biology, bioethics, biochemistry, human anatomy, medical genomics, global health and more with self-paced online courses from Harvard, MIT, the University of Toronto and other top institutions around the world.

Jobs in the Field of Nursing

To say that the demand for nurses is strong would be an understatement. Skilled nurses are in extremely high demand around the world. A recent search on Indeed listed over 38,000 open positions in nursing in the United States alone and estimates an average salary of just over $30 per hour. Expect to find open job positions in almost any city you wish to work. Nurses with advanced specializations are also in very high demand and can command much higher salaries. General Nurse Practitioners (NP) can open their own practice or work in hospitals or clinics. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA), one of the highest paid nursing specializations, are responsible for administering anesthesia to patients undergoing surgery or other procedures and requires advanced education. Indeed.com estimates the average salary of CRNAs at over $150,000 per year.

Enroll in free biology and life sciences courses on edX to get an introduction to many areas of study relevant to a nursing education.