Building a Highway to Health Care Education
The program is expected to help the nation reach its goal of 80 percent bachelor’s-prepared nurses by 2020.
The School of Nursing at Abilene has partnered with the Health Sciences Center of Cisco College to revitalize the institution’s long-standing Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) to Associate Nursing Degree (ADN) Program.
City leaders, Cisco College and university administrators expect that the collaboration will produce highly educated nurses suited to meet the country’s changing health care landscape.
“Through TTUHSC’s relationship with the Abilene hospital community and this partnership with Cisco College, we will create an academic highway to allow nurse aides to see their education through to the doctorate level,” said Patricia Allen, Ed.D., R.N., director of the School of Nursing’s Center for Innovation in Nursing Education. “Together with the leadership and faculty at Cisco College, we will create an innovative curriculum allowing seamless transition to the RN to BSN or RN to MSN program.”
The Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have set a goal for 80 percent of the nation’s nurses to earn their bachelor’s degrees in nursing by 2020 to provide safe, quality, patient-centered, accessible and affordable care in the 21st century. Currently the national average of bachelor’s-prepared nurses is 50 percent. Texas stands below that average at 37 percent.
“By re-launching Cisco College’s LVN to ADN program through this partnership, we are assisting in reaching the Institute of Medicine’s goal,” said Pearl Merritt, Ed.D., MSN, regional School of Nursing dean.
Merritt, a Cisco College graduate, earned her BSN from McMurry University, and went on to earn two master’s degrees from Abilene Christian University and a doctorate from TTUHSC. Merritt, Allen and Melinda Mitchell Jones, MSN, J.D., chair of the School of Nursing’s Non-Traditional Undergraduate Department, will develop innovative curriculum and provide oversight and mentoring for Cisco College’s new LVN to ADN program director.
"This type of collaboration between Cisco College, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, local health care providers and city leaders is something special that will become a model for sharing resources and building on each other's strengths,” said Cisco College President Bobby Smith. “The benefits are limitless."
The School of Nursing came to Abilene in 2008. Last year, with the help of Hendrick Health System, the school broke ground on a new nursing facility that will be donated to TTUHSC upon completion.
Cisco College began an LVN nursing program in 1972. The new LVN to ADN program will be accommodated in the recently completed 9,000-square-foot Health Sciences Center at Cisco College’s Abilene Educational Center.
Related Stories
A Rite of Passage for Next Generation of Physicians
Students in TTUHSC's School of Medicine Class of 2028 received their first white coat and pledged their commitment to the medical profession at the White Coat Ceremony Friday (July 26) at the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
As spring approaches, some people’s thoughts turn to gardening. Whether it’s a flower garden they desire or a vegetable garden want to have, they begin planning what they’ll plant and what they need to do to ensure a successful garden.
Adopt a Growth Mindset for a Better Life
A “growth mindset” accepts that our intelligence and talents can develop over time, and a person with that mindset understands that intelligence and talents can improve through effort and learning.
Recent Stories
Exceptional Value, Outstanding Outcomes: TTUHSC’s DPT Program
TTUHSC’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program has been around for nearly 40 years.
TTUHSC’s Santos Inducted into the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators®
Ariel Santos, M.D., a trauma and critical care surgeon and interim chair for the Department of Surgery at TTUHSC, was inducted into membership in the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators® Sept. 27 in Chicago.
Hidden Heroes of Health Care: Supporting a Shortage of Molecular Genetic Technologists
A Molecular Genetic Technologist is a qualified technologist (by an academic or applied education) that is able to perform testing on human samples for inherited diseases, acquired diseases and infectious diseases.