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NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
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COA Announces Grand Opening of Regional RN to BSN Nursing Education Center
College of The Albemarle
is pleased to announce the grand opening of the STEP Center
for RN to BSN Nursing Education on August 16th at 9:00 am. All are
welcome to attend.
STEP stands
for Strategic Transitions to Education
Progression and will have two dedicated nursing faculty, as well as access
to college transfer specialists, to help develop the local nursing workforce
toward BSN attainment through a new and innovative approach to nursing
education.
The STEP Center
will focus on:
·
Expediting completion of RN-BSN pre-requisite courses at COA
at reasonable cost and convenience for working RNs.
·
Streamlining the transition into and completion of RN-BSN/or
MSN programs based strategically on an individual nurse’s needs and academic
history.
The STEP Center
provides a supportive nursing
education environment that includes recruitment, advisement, RN-BSN program
connection, and convenient pre-requisite coursework that advances ADN students
and existing RNs in the community toward their BSN degrees.
The
development of more efficient pathways to higher degrees is essential for
nurses across the nation. While COA nursing has done an excellent job providing
associate degree prepared RNs and LPNs for the region, it became apparent to
the college that more needed to be done to help move nurses to their BSNs. With
over 50 years of history and experience, nursing leadership at the college
began to explore what would work best for nurses of the area. It became
apparent that traditional brick and mortar RN-BSN programs and their
pre-requisite courses often do not fit the needs of today’s nursing workforce who works a variety of
hours and schedules. It was also understood that each nurse takes a different
pathway to attain the initial nursing degree, and that a variety of options and
programs already existed that would promote better connections and completion
of BSN degrees.
Because
of the uniqueness of the Northeastern North Carolina
area, a more innovative approach was needed that provided accessible and
flexible education matched with a nurse’s academic history to expedite movement
into BSN courses. This helps nurses avoid being caught in a loop of years spent
on completing pre-requisite courses before moving into BSN coursework. The STEP Center
provides better options through offering pre-requisite courses at COA that
historically were not available, such as online statistics and microbiology
courses. All required pre-requisite courses for most RN-BSN programs can now be
taken at COA, with the majority available online for convenience. Even
chemistry is offered in a hybrid option requiring only one night a week for a
face to face lab and student support.
In
addition, the STEP
Center provides a
comparative analysis of the many options of over 20 RN-BSN programs (and
growing) – most of them online, and guides the nurse to select and enter the
program that best matches academic history and individual needs to expedite
degree completion. Offering a wide variety of RN-BSN program options to nurses
in the area will help best meet the region’s education needs. Advising and
facilitating nurses into their selected RN-BSN program by experienced nursing
faculty members is key to student success. The information will also be helpful
to nursing employers who often reimburse for tuition and seek to move their
nurses to higher credentials.
The STEP
Center was funded through COA’s
Foundation and will be located on the second floor of the Owens
Center on the Elizabeth City
campus and can also be accessed through the college website at
www.albemarle.edu/stepcenter. STEP nursing advisors, Gloria Baker, RN, MSN, PhD
and Amanda Yopp RN, MSN, GANP are already visiting nurses at hospitals and
health care agencies across the region, recruiting and assisting nurses
throughout a ten county area.
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