Published: June 06, 2006 11:08 pm      

New path for nursing advancement

OUS unveils online initiative

IRONTON — Starting in January 2007, licensed professional nurses will be able to earn their degrees as registered nurses at Ohio University Southern without cutting into their work schedules.

Under a new initiative unveiled Tuesday, LPNs would study mostly online to complete the RN associate’s degree requirements in a year. The initiative was crafted as a cooperative agreement between OUS and the Collins Career Center in rural Lawrence County, Ohio, which offers a program to train LPNs.

Any LPN would be eligible to enroll, however, said OUS Dean Dan Evans.

Of the first class of 25 LPNs set to kick off the program, 15 are employed at King’s Daughters Medical Center, said Deborah Meehan, associate director of nursing at OUS.

LPNs first take transitional courses and then start the associate degree curriculum, Meehan said.

OUS already had transfer programs which applied LPN credit toward RN associate degrees, but it needed a mechanism friendly toward working nurses, according to Meehan. “We needed a new delivery system,” she said.

“LPNs need to work so they can’t come to school four days a week,” said Kay Schwartzwelder, the center’s associate director of nursing.

At first glance, the 15 people from King’s Daughters enrolled in the program doesn’t sound like much, but it is, said Fran Paschall, vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer at KDMC.

“It’s a large number of people who are willing to work full time while continuing their education,” Paschall said.

While much of the work will be done online, some classes will be in KDMC’s health education center, Meehan said.

Holding classes at the hospital and online breaks down some of the barriers full-time workers face in moving up professionally, Paschall said.

Graduates of the program should find an abundance of job opportunities. A critical shortage of nurses in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia is expected to peak in 2017, Meehan said.

“Every year for the past few years we have hired a very large number of nurses and this will enhance our ability to hire more,” Paschall said.

Also it will help LPNs at King’s Daughters who want to advance professionally, she said.

Under existing tuition reciprocity agreements, students from Boyd, Greenup, Carter, Lawrence, Elliott, Lewis, Rowan, Mason and Fleming counties may enroll in the program and pay in-state tuition rates, Evans said.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.