CSUB Offers Accelerated Nursing Program

The nursing department at California State University, Bakersfield has developed a new entry-level master's nursing program in response the critical nursing shortage.

The CSU Chancellor's Office is funding the new program, the Accelerated Nursing Career Entry, or ANCE, to help people who have a bachelor's degree in a field other than nursing to complete the required nursing courses and become eligible to be a registered nurse. To be admitted to the program individuals must have a bachelor's degree in any field and have completed the required 11 prerequisite courses with a grade of C or better before the end of the spring term 2006.

Peggy Leapley, chair of the nursing department, said the program is an accelerated, demanding course of study with the goal "to prepare people to sit for the licensing examination in 18 months." That will get people to the point they would be after four years of undergraduate nursing course work. At that point, she said, work begins on graduate-level courses, and another 18 months brings the student to a master of science in nursing.

"This allows people who are in other professions but who have wanted to pursue a career in nursing a great opportunity," she said. "It's a concentrated, intense program that includes summers. It takes our existing program and compresses it."

Classes in the ANCE program will begin June 19, when the Nursing Department will welcome a cohort of 20 qualified students into the program. Students will be able to take the registered nurse licensure examinations after 18 months, and will graduate with a master of science degree in nursing in the area of family nurse practitioner in June 2009.

The intensive program will require a full-time commitment and will include summer courses and some evening, Leapley said.

Contacts:
Mike Stepanovich, (661) 654-2456, mstepanovich@csub.edu
Jaclyn Loveless, (661) 654-2138, jloveless@csub.edu