Almost two years after the state shuttered the nursing program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the Delta university has more than two dozen registered nurses signed up for its January kickoff of a new bachelor's degree program.
The educational track is designed to take a licensed registered nurse from a two-year associate degree to a Bachelor of Science in nursing, or BSN.
The program is not related to the university's two-year, associate degree registered nurse program, which the state shut down in spring 2013 because problems with curriculum, materials and student pass rates on mandatory tests had not been remedied after the school was placed on probation in 2010.
A student must have a registered nurse license to enroll in the new program, so approval of the program is not needed through the state Board of Nursing, said Andrea Stewart, UAPB dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. "It has a stand-alone curriculum that is totally separate from the RN program," she said. "There are no board exams, only a higher degree."
The program was approved by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education Coordinating Board at its July meeting.
Jujuan English, UAPB's leader for the program, said the university began putting the curriculum together for the new bachelor's degree about six months ago after receiving several requests from registered nurses in the community. The closest universities for students from Pine Bluff and surrounding areas to receive a bachelor's degree in nursing are in Little Rock.
"This will give them theoretical and clinical courses to enhance their nursing education," English said about UAPB's program. "It doesn't change the licensure status. Once you're a licensed nurse, you're licensed. It's no longer required. The RN-to-BSN program gives them that educational background and support if they chose to go to a master's degree level."
The bachelor's degree also increases career opportunities for registered nurses, English said.
"Job advertisements in nursing magazines have gone from asking for an RN license to just saying 'BSN or higher.' It becomes a stepping stone," English said.
The university is in the process of hiring at least one more faculty member for the program before January, English said. As the student load increases, the program and the faculty will expand, she added.
In the meantime, UAPB has been working to get its registered nursing associate degree program back on track. Stewart said the pre-licensing request to reinstate the program was submitted four weeks ago to the state nursing board.
UAPB has asked the state board to fast-track the application so the program can be reopened by fall 2015 or "definitely by the spring of 2016," Stewart said.
"We have worked on that document for an entire year. We hired a consultant to come in, and we looked at where the problems were, how we could address it," Stewart said. "We asked employers and communities within a 90-mile radius if they would support the program, would they hire some of our students. We received an abnormally positive response."
The state Board of Nursing put the university's registered nursing program on probation in 2010, citing three consecutive years of less than 75 percent of graduates passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses -- an exam required for licensure -- on the first attempt. None of the 17 nursing program seniors in that year were allowed to graduate after they all failed a practice licensure exam required to pass a mandatory course.
By 2013, the UAPB nursing program had failed to fulfill eight of 21 conditions of an extensive agreement with the nursing board, and the program was shut down.
Among the problems cited, faculty members failed to provide adequate proof that they had completed professional development courses and the department chairman failed to submit faculty development plans. Also, course plans and student handbooks used inconsistent grading scales and confusing course references, making it difficult for students to enroll in proper classes and determine what it would take to pass a course.
Shane Broadway, the director of the Department of Higher Education, said UAPB is on the right track to revive the program.
"I would say that former [interim] Chancellor Calvin Johnson and now Chancellor [Laurence] Alexander both have put a great deal of time and effort into dealing with the issues that plagued the former program and have been working in a methodical way to address the issues so that they can begin the process of getting their program back," Broadway said in an email.
"The program is certainly essential to providing opportunities for students of UAPB, the Delta and South Arkansas where we still face shortages in many places for health care professionals and certainly nursing. But they acknowledge it must be done in a way that ensures the quality of the program and training given to those in the program."
State Desk on 12/01/2014