In a step toward easing the nursing shortage in Connecticut, the state Board of Governors for Higher Education recently approved the expansion of UConn's full-time accelerated master's entry into nursing (MbEIN) program to two regional campuses in Waterbury and Stamford.
This is a critical effort, as Connecticut will face the second-highest shortage of registered nurses in the country by 2020, according to the Connecticut Hospital Association. Connecticut will be short 340,000 nurses.
"Anything we can do to add quality nurses into the work force, the better it is," said Carol Polifroni, associate dean of the School of Nursing. "Our main program began in Storrs in 2003, and we've never been able to meet the demand for seats within that curriculum."
The expansion is expected to bring 64 more nurses a year into the work force, though the program will have graduated some 150 students by this December.
"There's no other program in the country that can say that," Polifroni said, adding that the Department of Higher Education had lauded the program, calling it "a very good model."
The program has attracted attention from applicants as well. Though the Storrs program admits only 32 students annually, the MbEIN program program receives approximately five times that number of applications, according to the School of Nursing Web site.
According to a press release, the Waterbury and Stamford campuses were chosen for the expansion because of significant interest in the MbEIN program from the applicant pools in the western and southern portions of the state.
Ninth-semester nursing major Jessica Fraley thought the move would be good for people in other parts of the state, especially those who have families.
"It's hard for some people to travel to Storrs," she said. "Especially with the MbEIN program, it's not just [traditional] students."
The program will start in Waterbury in January 2008, while the Stamford program will not begin until 2009, according to Polifroni, who said that the School of Nursing is working on hiring several new faculty to teach the new students.
The program takes students who have undergraduate or graduate degrees in fields other than nursing and, after they complete 45 credits in nursing in 11 months, they receive a certificate that allows them to take their licensing exam for nurses in Connecticut and enroll in the School of Nursing's master's program. The entire program, from initial entry to graduation as a registered nurse, is expected to take students approximately three years, according to the School of Nursing Web site.
"It's one of the quickest ways to be come a registered nurse." Polifroni said, noting that the program is probably one of the most cost-effective as well.
"Most people can manage to adjust their lives for a year if they know that it's only a year," she said. Compared with longer, part-time programs, "it's more manageable." Only one student of the 150 who have entered the program has failed to complete it, she said.
In order to be admitted to the program, students must have graduated with a 3.0 grade point average or better and have received a B grade or better in prerequisite science courses such as anatomy and physiology, biology, genetics, microbiology and chemistry.
Once in the program, students can expect three fourteen-week semesters consisting of nine hours of class time, five hours in a simulation lab and 16 hours working in a clinical setting weekly, not including preparation, study or travel time. Classes at Waterbury will be on Fridays, while students will be in clinical on either Sundays and Mondays or Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Their Saturdays will be spent at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury doing simulated lab exercises.
After completing the program, graduates can work in any location that hires registered nurses, including hospitals, airlines, schools and long-term care facilities.
Contact Aly Shea at Alison.Shea@UConn.edu.
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