Des Moines Area Community College and the University of Iowa are forming a partnership aimed at attracting more students into nursing.
They are offering what administrators call an RN to BSN 3+1. Future nurses will complete a registered nursing degree at DMACC and finish off with a year on-line to gain a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing through the U of I.
DMACC’s director of nursing, Kendra Erickson, says the program will be easy to manage for her busy students. “Eighty percent of our students are between 20-and-40 who are in our nursing program, and 35 percent of them have dependents. And a startling 80 percent of them have to work while they are getting their degree,” Erickson says.
For young mother and DMACC nursing student Danielle Yonemura, the program will provide a quicker path to higher wages. “The advancements I can have in my career would come sooner, which would mean I could provide for her better and sooner, you know, that financial stability,” Yonemura says.
This is DMACC’s third agreement to help fill the shortage of nurses in the state. It has a similar 3+1 arrangement with Iowa Wesleyan University. The school is also working with Iowa State to start a nursing program.
Thanks to Rob Dillard, Iowa Public Radio