Nightingale College Discontinues New Enrollments into ADN Program in Favor of Providing BSN and Advanced Nursing Degrees
Nightingale College discontinues new enrollments into the ADN Program as of May 20, 2019.
Nightingale College celebrates the success of its ADN Program, launched in April 2011, and applauds the more than 600 licensed registered nurses who have graduated from the Program and are contributing to improving health in their communities. The ADN Program has served as the College’s first nursing degree program and provided the basis for the development of the innovative Dedicated Distance Cohort (DDC) education delivery model.
Why the Change?
This change better positions the College to answer the call made in the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 Future of Nursing Report, which recommended 80 percent of all nurses in the workforce to be prepared at the baccalaureate level by 2020. To date, the nursing workforce remains at below 60 percent of practitioners with advanced degrees. Based on the research that proves BSN-prepared nurses deliver superior care resulting in improved health outcomes, the College fully supports the IOM’s recommendation.
Furthermore, offering the BSN Program as the only pre-licensure nursing option aligns with the College’s mission and vision of elevating health. As advanced degrees are quickly becoming an industry standard and are required by many employers, this change paves the way for the College to better serve its partners and communities by offering only baccalaureate and future graduate-level degree programs in nursing.
Currently, the College’s learner population consists of 60 percent BSN learners.
What does this mean for DDC Partners?
The ADN Program will remain fully operational for all enrolled learners through December of 2020 and will remain fully accredited by the ACEN through the duration of the Program. Normal BSN experiential learning will continue at all current partner facilities.
Current ADN learners will graduate from an accredited ADN program and the College’s decision to discontinue new ADN enrollments will not affect the Program’s accreditation status.
