New partnership
Beebe Healthcare, UD form partnership in nursing education in southern Delaware
3:19 p.m., Oct. 30, 2013--Beebe Healthcare and the University of Delaware are partnering in a new program designed to provide an educational pathway for nursing students in Sussex County.
Under the new program, beginning in fall 2014, students will enter the University of Delaware Associate in Arts Program (AAP) in Georgetown, where they will be on an advisement track that will prepare them to enter the Registered Nurse (RN) nursing program at Beebe Healthcare’s Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing in Lewes.
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After completing the Beebe RN program in two years, students will then be able to return to UD for completion of a BSN degree and then possibly continue on for an MSN degree.
"We are proud that the Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing is participating in this cooperative nursing education program with the University of Delaware," said Jeffrey M. Fried, FACHE, president and CEO of Beebe Healthcare. "It allows our two organizations to better prepare the next generation of nurses with a quality educational program and the hands-on experience in an acute-care hospital setting. At the same time, this cooperative program will support the students, many of whom are Sussex County residents, in their quest for the advanced degrees they will need to provide the highest standard of patient care in our increasingly complex medical environment."
"To help address the national nursing shortage, we are very pleased to be able to partner with Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing to offer our students this new career pathway," Jack Bartley, faculty director of UD's Associate in Arts Program, said. "The Institute of Medicine has called for increasing the proportion of nurses with baccalaureate degrees to 80 percent by 2020, and to achieve that goal, collaborative projects such as this one will be essential."
Recruitment for the new program is now underway with representatives of the Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing and UD's Associate in Arts Program visiting southern Delaware high schools.
For more information about UD's Associate in Arts Program, contact Richard Bacon, associate director, or Mary Miller, academic adviser, on the Georgetown campus, telephone 302-855-1657.
For more information about the Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing, please call the School of Nursing office at 302-645-3251.
About the Associate in Arts Program
UD's Associate in Arts Program (AAP) offers Delawareans the option of completing a two-year associate degree at locations in Wilmington, Dover and Georgetown. Those who complete the program can then transition directly to the Newark campus to complete their bachelor's degrees.
Structured to promote student success, AAP features small class sizes, close faculty contact, personal attention and a curriculum that prepares them to enter a broad variety of bachelor's degree majors when they come to Newark. AAP also provides students with the skills that employers are seeking, including proficiency in decision-making and problem-solving, oral and written communication skills, quantitative reasoning ability and the ability to work independently and in teams.
About the Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing
The Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing offers comprehensive nursing education in basic concepts, advanced technology and critical care nursing. It also provides optimal hands-on clinical experience that is more accessible due to the proximity of Beebe Healthcare.
The only hospital-based nursing program in Delaware, the Margaret H. Rollins School is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), formerly NLNAC. The diploma in professional nursing is awarded at the completion of the curriculum, qualifying graduates to be eligible for National Council of State Boards of Nursing NCLEX examination, leading to licensure. Beebe graduates consistently have high NCLEX pass rates and can complete a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at the University of Delaware and Wilmington University through well-defined articulation agreements.
Tracing its roots to a nursing education program established in 1921 at what was then Beebe Hospital, the Margaret H. Rollins School adopted its current name in 2011 when the Ma-Ran Foundation, established by R. Randall Rollins and Margaret Rollins, donated $3 million toward its expansion. To date, the Beebe Medical Foundation's Nursing Education Campaign has raised $7.51 million toward the expansion project, with less than $480,000 remaining to be raised.
Beebe Healthcare is a not-for-profit community healthcare system with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness and restore optimal health for the people residing, working or visiting in the communities it servea. It offers services throughout southern Delaware, including a 210-licensed-bed hospital, a cancer center and outpatient facilities at multiple sites providing lab, imaging, physical rehab services and walk-in care. For more information, please visit www.beebehealthcare.org.