Accelerated nursing program speeds up degree

Brent Hill already has a Bachelor of Science in psychology, a certificate in drug and alcohol counseling and a master's degree in public health promotion and education. This year he's seeking to add a bachelor's degree in nursing in just 13 months. Hill and 39 other students are part of a new accelerated program offered by the College of Nursing that allows applicants who already have an undergraduate degree to get their nursing degree in half the time. Students in the program finish early because, unlike the regular two-year program, participants in the accelerated program do not take summers off. "We take the same content and put it into a shorter semester that makes it a little more rigorous," said Lynn Hollister, nursing professor. Hill confirms this. At the beginning of the summer he planned to attend class in the day, then spend time relaxing at night. But between almost 40 hours spent in class and at clinics and two to three hours of homework every night, he hasn't had time. Students in the new, faster program start nursing school at the beginning of the summer. They continue through Fall, Winter, and the next Summer Semesters. Graduation is held in August. According to Carrie Radmall, manager of student services for the U College of Nursing, those applying to the accelerated nursing program are still required to complete all of the nursing prerequisite courses, and it is strongly recommended that applicants have work experience in the medical field. Once in the program, students are required to take all of the same classes as those in the non-accelerated program. "There's nothing significantly different about the nursing curriculum," Radmall said. The primary difference between the participants in the two programs is that the accelerated nursing students have already fi nished all of their general requirements, allowing them to focus more fully on nursing classes, Radmall said. On average, applicants in the accelerated program are older than nurses in the regular program and have diverse backgrounds with degrees in everything from music to communication and biology. Hollister described the students as "a very interesting group-just a little older, with more life experience and a little more confi dence. "That makes classroom discussions a little richer." Other than the fact that the accelerated program moves faster, the fundamentals of the program are almost exactly the same as the regular two-year program. This year, the college of nursing didn't advertise specifi cally for the accelerated program. Instead, they pulled applicants who were applying to the regular program with a bachelor's degree, and evaluated them separately for the new program. In the future there will be two separate programs with separate applications. This will allow students with similar academic backgrounds to compete against each other. Students who have only completed one or two years of school won't be competing for spots with those who have an undergraduate or graduate degree, Radmall said. ccallister@chronicle.utah.edu