Westfield State partners with Springfield Technical Community College for nursing program.
Nursing student Ashley LeBlanc was working to get a lung cancer screening program off the ground at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, when she first learned of the University’s RN to BSN Program. A registered nurse, LeBlanc holds an associate in nursing from Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), but she was eager to expand her knowledge base to better serve her patients.
Motivated to earn a bachelor of science in nursing, LeBlanc enrolled full time in the University’s new RN to BSN hybrid completion program, announced in early October 2016 by University President Ramon S. Torrecilha, Ph.D., and leaders at STCC. She plans to graduate this summer with others in the first class for the collaborative program.
Typically, Westfield State accepts 67 transfer credits from community colleges. With the new RN to BSN program, STCC students are painstakingly advised from the very beginning on course selection and, consequently, up to 90 STCC credits may transfer toward Westfield State’s RN to BSN Program.
The final 30 credits are achieved through hybrid courses, including online classes and three on-campus sessions at STCC each semester.
“We’re developing partnerships with our community colleges and within our community,” says Shelley Tinkham, Ph.D., interim dean of Graduate and Continuing Education, who notes that many of the 24 full- and part-time students in the first hybrid class are already in the field and working as registered nurses.
“We’re being responsive to students and employers,” Dr. Tinkham says. “And by traveling to the students, we’re increasing the flexibility of the program, which is very exciting.”
One of the aspects of the program that impresses LeBlanc is that all of the faculty members are actively working in the field in some capacity.
“Nursing is a constantly developing, evidence-based practice, so the fact that all of the instructors are actively working in the field in some capacity makes a difference in the quality of the education we receive,” says LeBlanc.
One of those faculty members is Jessica Holden, the RN to BSN Program coordinator. Holden knows that for some students, it’s more feasible to earn their associate degree and begin working. “The difference between the associate degree and the BSN,” she says, “is that the BSN is focused on leadership and quality improvement, and leading change in health care.”
Westfield State’s innovation and creativity is helping local nurses progress and meet the standards set by the National Academy of Medicine by 2020, when it’s expected that 80 percent of working nurses will have their BSN. “This is the first state-school-to-state school collaboration of this kind, and that’s significant,” says Holden.
