Nursing could make a comeback to Saint Martin’s University, as school officials explore the idea of reviving its nursing continuation program, which enabled nurses to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees while working.
The nursing program was cut in 1998, after officials at the then-Saint Martin’s College announced that the program was losing $100,000 a year, a figure that nursing program staff and supporters disputed.
But current university President Roy Heynderickx is interested in reviving the program in response to community and potential student demand, university spokeswoman Genevieve Chan said.
She said that the need for the program appears to be greater now.
“Across the country, the job market for nurses has escalated,” she said.
“It’s definitely something that’s in the best interest of our student population,” Chan said. “We’ve been hearing from our business partners in the area that there is a great need for nursing.”
Local alumni of the Saint Martin’s program said that the program’s return would fill an education void for local nurses who want to go into management.
“It’s hard to find a program that fits with your work life,” said Karen Radnich, class of 1993, who now is the clinic manager at Providence St. Peter Hospital’s Family Birth Center. “You need something in your community … . It’s hard to commute to Tacoma or Seattle if you’re trying to work or if you have a family.”
The university is looking for someone to head the initiative, Chan said, and that person will look at what classes, instructors and equipment a new program would need.
“We want them to bring current knowledge of what it is in the nursing industry,” she said. “We want to make sure we are on par with the cutting edge in the industry.”
The program, which would take at least a year to launch, would start out as a two-year bachelor’s program for students who have already earned an associate’s degree. The university would consider adding a four-year bachelor’s program and a master’s program, she said.
According to the Washington Center for Nursing, the need for licensed nurses is growing because the aging population needs more health care. The current population of nurses also is getting older, and the number of students in associate’s or bachelor’s nursing programs is not enough to replace retiring nurses, the center said.
Martie Moore, who commuted between her home and job in Longview and Saint Martin’s in Lacey to earn her BSN, said that she sees that dynamic in her position as chief nursing officer at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland.
“We are experiencing a shortage we have never experienced,” she said. “It’s going to be supply and demand against the aging population of baby boomers. We don’t have enough people going into the nursing field in order to meet the amount that we’re going to require in health care.”
According to Linda Tieman, the Washington Center for Nursing’s executive director, the state’s 11 bachelor’s programs for working nurses have enough room for registered nurses who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but geographically, a local program makes sense for a working nurse.
“It would be a help for the people who live in that area,” Tieman said, though she noted, “a lot of them are online.
“The idea is to not make it difficult for people to get a bachelor’s degree.”
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