First Accelerated Campus Based BSN Program Takes Off

Monday, Nov 01, 2021

The College of Nursing and Health Innovation’s first accelerated campus-based Bachelor of Science in Nursing cohort began this past summer, which allows students to finish their last two years of nursing school in 15 months.

“The major benefit of an accelerated campus program like this one is that it allows the more traditional learners who want to have face-to-face classes to finish two semesters earlier,” shared Paula Wyman, clinical assistant professor.

The students study during two summer semesters, doing the Junior 1 study during their first summer, and then head straight into Junior 2 with the previous spring cohort. They then finish the following summer with their Senior 2 courses. During the two summers, they attend accelerated versions of the courses their peers are taking in the longer spring and fall semesters.

“The thing that drew me to the accelerated program, was that it would let me make up a whole year that I lost,” shared Jacob Ingram, now a JR 2 BSN honors student. “It’s nursing school, so it is a lot of work, but it has felt manageable. We had a lot of one-on-one time with professors and it felt like they wanted us to succeed.”

“I liked the smaller classes, it felt like you connected with other students and the professors better,” said Emily Yu, who is also in the accelerated campus-based program and is an honors student.

Both Ingram and Yu are also in the honors college and were the first honors students to be in the accelerated campus-based program. “I am really proud that they were willing to take on this challenge in an already accelerated semester. They were excellent in their papers and presentations,” said Wyman. “We had a team of faculty come in and ask them questions about their subjects and they did a phenomenal job.”

Ingram’s presentation explored research on diversity training and cultural competence training for RNs and the correlation that has with patient satisfaction. And Yu’s project focused on diabetes type I treatments with the insulin pump and subcutaneous injection as comparison interventions.

“I always knew I wanted to help people, and nurses do so much to keep patients healthy and help them to recover, that’s how I knew I wanted to pursue nursing,” shared Yu when reflecting on why pursuing nursing is important to her.

The first cohort of the accelerated program had 31 students, and CONHI plans to offer the accelerated campus-based BSN option again for next summer. Students who may be interested in joining should discuss with their advisor if it is the right option for them.