East Mississippi Community College Launches Associate Degree Nursing Program
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With scores of people living in rural areas and an aging population of baby boomers, Mississippi is facing a critical shortage of nurses. Fortunately, East Mississippi Community College is doing its part to address the issue.
The college’s Golden Triangle Campus was approved for an Associate Degree Nursing Program in October 2008, and EMCC will enroll its first Associate Degree Nursing students in January 2010.
“Men and women graduates from our program will be eligible to become licensed registered nurses, and these graduates will be prepared for entry level into the nursing field,” says Patricia Clowers , nursing director at East Mississippi Community College. “They will help alleviate the nursing shortage in the state. Our goal is to have the best RN program in the state, and based on the success of our LPN program and the reputation of our graduates, we believe we will accomplish that goal.”
EMCC has been working to implement an Associate Degree Nursing Program for several years. Since 2004, it has been the only public community college in the state to not have the program.
“Although we documented the need for the program, there was opposition to overcome,” Clowers says.
Two such obstacles included a shortage of qualified nursing instructors and a lack of clinical space for more students.
“We addressed the first concern by growing our own instructors. Through a grant from the Department of Labor, we provided scholarships for six bachelor’s prepared nurses to return to get their master’s degrees,” Clowers explains. “We addressed the lack of clinical space by starting our program in January as opposed to August, which will put our students in the clinical areas at different times than other schools to prevent overcrowding.”
EMCC previously only had a program for those who wanted to become licensed practical nurses.
“Although LPNs are capable of providing a wide range of patient care, there are acute care situations and treatment needs that must be handled by a registered nurse,” says Dr. Paul Miller, vice president of EMCC’s Golden Triangle Campus. “The registered nurse category has the greatest workforce need in Mississippi and across the nation.”
Plans are in the works for EMCC to build a new Allied Health and Wellness facility near the Industrial Park in Lowndes County. The property was donated to the college for the purpose of housing something related to health care.
“In the meantime, the first cohort of Associate Degree Nursing students will attend classes on the Golden Triangle Campus, where we are making room by shifting some existing classrooms and labs around for the short term,” Miller says.
The curriculum will include all areas of nursing, including geriatrics, pediatrics, mother and infant care, medical, surgical and psychiatric nursing.
“Students will be able to work with state-of-the-art patient simulators in the lab setting before entering actual health-care facilities,” Clowers says. “We have 53 LPN students enrolled, and the new program will attract many more students. Nursing schools across the state turn away many qualified applicants for RN programs due to lack of space.”
