An experienced nurse educator was hired initially as a consultant and then as the inaugural chair of the nursing department to implement the generic BSN program. Approval to open the prelicensure baccalaureate degree program was obtained from the State Board of Nursing in spring of 2009 and the first nursing (NUR) courses were taught at the junior level in the fall of that year. Subsequently, initial national accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) was obtained by the program in the next year. The first class of BSN-prepared students graduated from this program in May 2011 and all graduates were licensed and employed in nursing by the end of that year. The program continued to admit one class of new nursing majors to the junior NUR courses each fall semester and graduate one class of BSN-prepared students each May. Between 45% and 50% of program graduates have been employed by the partner medical center in their new graduate nurse residency. Alumni of the program have continued formal nursing education in master’s and doctoral programs, becoming nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists, and even returning as nursing faculty in the program. Several have served as preceptors for nursing students, have taken travelling nurse assignments across the US, have obtained specialty nursing certification, and/or have earned Daisy Award and Nurse of the Month recognition. Continuing accreditation of the BSN program for the next 10 years was granted by the CCNE in 2015. The program expanded by admitting a new class of NUR juniors each spring semester who graduate in December of the following year. Additionally, an online RN to BSN Completion track for associate-degree prepared nurses who want to take additional courses to earn a BSN degree has been added to the offerings of the nursing education program.
The partnering organizations work closely throughout the year to make this a successful endeavor, including clinical instructors who are all MSN-prepared employees of the clinical agency, face-to-face meetings of all NUR faculty and all clinical instructors three times a year with additional course-specific meetings during the academic year, clinical instructor participation in the college’s Boot Camp days at the beginning of each semester plus simulation days at the end of the semester, and NUR faculty presence on the clinical units with students and clinical instructors to name a few. The purpose of this session is to explore the components of this successful partnership, the challenges that were encountered, the recommendations that grew out of the journey, and suggestions for the future from both the nursing education and the nursing practice perspectives. These points would be helpful to nursing education programs and to nursing practice settings seeking to expand existing capacity and novel collaborations.