Beginning in the fall of 2019, there will be more nurses on campus than just those in the Wellness Center. Last week, St. Bonaventure University announced that it will offer a two-year program for registered nurses to earn their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
The new program was developed by Dr. Connie Perkins, who began working on the process in July.
New York State now requires all newly registered nurses with an associate degree to earn a bachelor’s degree within ten years of getting their nursing license. Perkins had to create a program geared toward professionals already working in the field, as opposed to most traditional undergraduate programs. Throughout this process, Perkins kept her own experience as a nursing student in mind, including the time and financial challenges nurses face in pursuing their education.
“When I wrote this program, it was very much thinking of when I was practicing as a nurse and what barriers I faced to complete my education,” she said in a recent interview. “I meet a lot of nurses who want to go on to the next thing. They want to achieve that bachelor’s degree, and the barriers are too much. In writing that program, I wanted to make sure that it could be completed in a reasonable amount of time to save them some money.”
Along with being conscious of money and time, the nursing program offers flexibility by using a mixture of in-class and online learning.
“We’re also going to make it a hybrid approach so that they get that face-to-face feel that Bonas offers. They also have weeks where we don’t have to meet at a certain time at a certain place, but they will have assignments to complete online,” said Perkins.
Preparation for further studies is another goal in using a hybrid approach, since many graduate programs are online. Perkins said she wants students in the program to be technologically savvy, so that they aren’t intimidated to complete an online program in the future.
The new program is the third undergraduate degree program in St. Bonaventure’s School of Health Professions. Jessica Helmbrecht, a freshman health science major with a biomedical concentration, thinks that the nursing program is a great addition to the university.
“I think it’s going to be really nice because people who already have their RN and want to continue into nursing will now have the opportunity to do so here at St. Bonaventure,” Helmbrecht said.
Although there are no set expectations on enrollment at this time, Perkins noted that the program will likely be kept small.
“The vision for this program is about 50 (students) because we do want to keep it close like any other major here on campus, so that we form a relationship with all of our students,” she said.
As for demographics, Perkins said she assumes the program will be made up of mostly local nurses. She noted that the vision for this program is to help nurses already practicing in the region, where statistics show approximately only 30 percent of nurses are baccalaureate prepared.
While no agreements are in writing at this time, Perkins said that there have been conversations surrounding potential partnerships with local healthcare institutions, such as Olean General Hospital, Bradford Regional Medical Center,and UPMC Cole.
Ultimately, the program is designed to give nurses all the necessary instruction, time and tools that they need to succeed in the healthcare field. Perkins is currently in the process of hiring faculty who are dedicated to making the program successful and achievable for the students.
“We very much want to give an avenue to working bedside nurses that they haven’t had before” she said. “We want to work with them, to meet with them in the evenings, to email back and forth, to be a dedicated faculty, and to really knock down any barrier we possibly can for these working nurses. I want my team to be just as dedicated to all of the students as I am.”
By Bessie Pantano, Contributing Writer
pantanem18@bonaventure.edu
