In an effort to combat the shortage of nurses in West Virginia, Bethany College and West Virginia Wesleyan College have joined forces to create a collaborative nursing program. The partnership, signed by college presidents Jamie Caridi and James Moore, allows students to earn dual bachelor’s degrees in nursing and interdisciplinary studies within four years.
With a vacancy rate of 19.3 percent in nursing professions across the state and a turnover rate of 26 percent, the collaboration aims to attract more students to the colleges while addressing the scarcity of nurses entering the healthcare field. Caridi and Moore emphasized the importance of small liberal arts institutions being part of the solution to such challenges.
The program, set to launch in the fall, will include the addition of skills and simulation labs on the Bethany campus to prepare nursing students for their careers. The curriculum will be a seamless combination of both colleges’ expertise, with faculty from Bethany teaching interdisciplinary studies and Wesleyan staff instructing in nursing.
This partnership is just one of many collaborative efforts by Bethany College, which has similar agreements with other institutions in the healthcare field. Both Caridi and Moore are optimistic about the future of this program and envision more collaborations between their schools in the coming years. The joint initiative is seen as a positive step towards meeting the critical need for nurses in West Virginia and beyond.
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