URI graduates first class of online RN to B.S. students

THE 20 REGISTERED NURSES that received bachelor’s degrees in nursing from the University of Rhode Island in December are the first graduates of the university’s College of Nursing’s online registered nurse to Bachelor of Science in nursing program. / COURTESY THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
THE 20 REGISTERED NURSES that received bachelor’s degrees in nursing from the University of Rhode Island in December are the first graduates of the university’s College of Nursing’s online registered nurse to Bachelor of Science in nursing program. / COURTESY THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The 20 registered nurses that received bachelor’s degrees in nursing from the University of Rhode Island in December are the first graduates of the university’s College of Nursing’s online registered nurse to Bachelor of Science in nursing program, the only such program offered by a public university in Rhode Island.

The program, which began in fall 2015 with almost 30 students, now enrolls more than 450 and is expected to grow, Kristine Springett, program coordinator, said in a statement. Another 35 students are expected to graduate in May from the program, which complements the traditional in-person registered nurse to Bachelor of Science in nursing program.

The student body is about evenly split between early career registered nurses and those with years of experience, Springett said. RN to B.S. programs are designed to accommodate professional nurses who have associate degrees or nursing school diplomas but want to pursue bachelor’s degrees.

All courses are provided through the university’s Sakai learning platform, with students participating on their own schedule. Students take six nursing courses, statistics and pharmacology and must complete a public health practicum in their communities; some students also need to fulfill general education requirements.

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Some of the biggest differences between traditional and online programs are in duration and intensity, said Patricia Burbank, associate dean of the College of Nursing. Courses are offered year-round in six sessions lasting seven weeks.

“The term is shortened, so it is intense. The students cover in seven weeks what they would traditionally cover in 13, so the workload is more,” Burbank said in the statement.

Kellie Cunningham-Toland, a nurse at Scallop Shell Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in South Kingstown, can confirm that. She enrolled in the program in fall 2015, a few months after earning her RN from the Community College of Rhode Island, and is a member of this first graduating class. The married mother of three said the coursework was demanding, but she found the classes easy to follow, the online resources particularly helpful and College of Nursing faculty and staff extremely responsive.

“My goal was to graduate in 15 months and I did it,” she said.

Cunningham-Toland said she had looked into traditional routes to her bachelor’s but the online format fit her busy schedule. “I was able to apply to my job the things we were studying in the courses,” she said.

An Institute of Medicine 2010 report cited research that showed that patients have better outcomes when cared for by nurses with a baccalaureate degrees has driven the growth of RN to B.S. programs, URI said. The Institute recommended that 80 percent of nurses nationwide have bachelor’s degrees by 2020.

Initially, URI required RNs to start from scratch and retake all courses to receive their B.S. During the 1990s, then-students Laryl Riley and Linda Hunter helped the college streamline the program to better meet the needs of professionals, said Diane Martins, professor of nursing and RN to B.S. adviser/coordinator. “They drove the changes. The RNs told us what they needed, and we listened,” she said.

Today, the 2015 Nursing Education Partnership with CCRI makes the transition far easier; CCRI students can be accepted into URI after they earn their associate degrees in nursing but before they take licensing exams. URI then requires a copy of the nursing license before a student can enroll in upper-level courses.

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