To meet the growing demand for nurses and ease their own wait list numbers, California State University, Stanislaus will be offering Nursing degrees that can be earned through online classes.

The university will offer a new 13-month Bachelor of Science in Nursing  degree program for licensed Registered Nurses starting in the fall with all the required courses offered online, except for two onsite sessions on Health Assessment and a clinical course in Community Health Nursing.

The ongoing demand for Registered Nurses with BSN in Nursing Degrees at medical facilities in Stanislaus, Merced, San Joaquin, and Tuolumne counties prompted CSU Stanislaus to create the program that will enable participants to do most of their course work without having to commute to regular classes.

“We are pleased to offer a new program that seeks to meet a top workforce development need in the Central Valley,” CSU Stanislaus President Hamid Shirvani said. “Our ongoing partnership with regional hospitals continues to demonstrate an acute need for more health care professionals, including nurses with bachelor’s degrees, and we are committed to doing our part to help meet that need.”

The new degree program is designed to complement the university’s existing nursing degree programs that cover three semesters of classroom and clinical study. Enrollment in the degree program will be limited to 20 students.

“The program is designed for working professionals who otherwise would not be able to return to school,” said Peggy Hodge, chair of the CSU Stanislaus Department of Nursing. “Faculty from the department will be teaching these courses using distance education, but will also be available to meet with students personally, in order to provide individual assistance as needed.”

According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, California’s nursing shortage is estimated to reach 40,000 over the next decade. The U.S. Bureau of Health professionals project that within 10 years, the nation’s nursing shortage will exceed one million.

Classes and sessions in the degree program will be offered through the university’s Office of Extended Education and will be conducted by CSU Stanislaus Department of Nursing faculty in the College of Human and Health Sciences.

Information and applications are available on the university’s Extended Education Web site at www.extendeded.com/rn2bsn/index.asp, or contact Terry Barnhart, CSU Extended Education program developer, at mbarnhart@csustan.edu, or 667-3730.
To contact Sabra Stafford, e-mail sstafford@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2002.