Monday, March 01, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Intense training of nurses popular

Nevada State College launches accelerated program this fall

Want to be a nurse? Like, right now?

Well, if you already have a college degree in something else such as biology, geology, even music or history, you can get your shiny new nursing degree in just one year.

But you're really going to have to work for it.

"It's quite an intense experience," said Robert Rosseter, a spokesman for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

This fall, Nevada State College at Henderson will launch an accelerated nursing program, designed primarily for people looking for a career change.

People who already have college degrees and who have taken a couple of required prerequisites can complete what is normally a two-year program in one year and leave with a bachelor of science degree in nursing.

"They're doing it in a lot of other places, so I know it's possible," said Connie Carpenter, director of the 2-year-old college's nursing program.

Rosseter said there are 130 accelerated baccalaureate nursing programs nationwide, with about 50 more in the planning stages. It is an idea that has taken off since 1990, when there were 31 such programs.

"Given the nursing shortage, this is a very smart option for schools to consider," Rosseter said. "It's right on a lot of levels."

There is a severe shortage of nurses nationwide, and Nevada ranks at the bottom of the list. The state has about 520 nurses per 100,000 people; the national average is 782.

Schools with accelerated nursing programs report graduation rates are as high or higher than in traditional programs, and employers say the nurses are just as good or better, Rosseter and others said.

The University of Nevada, Reno's Orvis School of Nursing has an 18-month accelerated program. The school's undergraduate coordinator, Pam Schueler, said it has been so successful since its start in 2001 that it soon will be the only option for UNR's nursing students.

In the proposed fast-track program at the state college, students will have to complete 56 credit hours in a format that probably will include five 10-week mini-semesters. The students will be booked up Monday through Friday and will have to do some lab and clinical work on Saturday.

There will be little time for them to go out on the weekends or to hold any kind of job.

"We recommend that they don't work," Rosseter said of students in accelerated programs.

Carpenter said she had been thinking of starting an accelerated program at the state college for a while. Then, a $500,000 federal grant came through late last year. The money will enable the school to hire more nursing teachers for the program's first year, she said. Future years will have to be paid for out of the school's regular budget.

She said the program probably will be modeled after one at South Dakota State University that a former colleague of hers helps run.

"They're driven," said the former colleague, Lori Hendrickx, of the students in South Dakota's accelerated program. "They're very self-directed. They know they're giving up a year of their lives."

She said the accelerated students are generally in their 30s or 40s and are looking for a career change.

Hendrickx said the school's program started with a class of 32 students in 2002, 31 of whom graduated in August. So far, employer feedback has been positive, she said.

Carpenter, from the state college, said the accelerated program will allow the school to double its nursing enrollment. The school, which was built primarily to train new teachers and nurses, has about 800 students, 88 of them nursing students.

One of those is Navid Amirhosseini, who lost his job after the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Amirhosseini, 44, used to do physical exams for life insurance companies. He got his bachelor's degree in biology in 1982.

But after the terrorist attacks, he said he felt like he needed to leave New York, and he sought out a new career.

He started at the state college last month, too soon to be a part of the accelerated program.

"At the time, it wasn't offered," he said. "But if it were, I'd have taken it."

He said there are many students in his age group who are looking to get into nursing, where a good job is almost guaranteed. Many, like him, want to get their schooling out of the way as quickly as possible.

"The sooner we can finish, the sooner we can get out there and start taking care of our families," he said.