Nightingale College Announces New Partnership in Evanston, Brings Nursing Education Programs to the Community

EVANSTON, WY (August 24, 2016) – Local healthcare facilities have successfully partnered with Nightingale College to provide local nursing degree programs to residents of Evanston and surrounding communities.

Nursing college acceptance and admittance remains competitive, and attending a nursing program is not always feasible for some community residents while others travel, even relocate, to attend a nursing program.

Healthcare facilities struggle to employ the sufficient number of nurses due to potential nurses relocating for school and the current nursing workforce reaching retirement age. These factors make it difficult for healthcare facilities to meet the community’s needs. Alongside the demand for registered nurses is the rising need for accessible educational options—a necessity recognized by Nightingale College.

“Healthcare outcomes suffer when there is a lack of competent nurses,” said Jonathan Tanner, VP of Partnership at Nightingale College. “Without the proper nurse staffing and more importantly, without access to nursing education and quality nurses, patient care declines, affecting the community’s healthcare overall.”

Nightingale College brings its associate and bachelor’s degree in nursing programs to Evanston as a means of encouraging locally grown registered nurses. The College’s pioneering approach to supply nursing education through distance learning and on-ground lab and clinical experiences allows communities the availability to continuously grow and maintain registered nurses at a local level.

Additionally, higher-level degree nurses are in high demand because their advanced knowledge and skills are preferred when caring for the patients with diverse medical needs. The College’s expansion to the Evanston area will provide current nurses with an option of furthering their education to obtain a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree, which is essential to training and leading new nurses entering the healthcare field.

“The unique struggles Partners located outside of urban centers face when it comes to having qualified, sufficient and effective nurses keep them from meeting the needs of their communities,” said Jill McCullough, former DDC Coordinator at Nightingale College. “The College’s mission is to help these facilities retain local nurses who are passionate about the community’s health and will drive positive health solutions forward.”

Healthcare employers partnered with Nightingale College provide an educational opportunity designed to expand the pool of local ready-to-work registered nurses and supply an additional advanced degree nursing program that is available to the community. These healthcare employers investing in local education and employment prepare their communities to support fully staffed and safe nursing units while contributing to the increase in the number of qualified RN applicants in the area.

“We have found through our other partnership cohorts that nurses who are educated locally have a greater understanding of the healthcare needs in their community, are invested and more likely to work for local facilities,” said Tanner. “We are looking forward to the opportunity to bring our nursing programs to Wyoming and provide a solution that will not only assist our partners in supporting competent RNs in their facilities, but help improve the community’s healthcare.”

As of August 2016, Wyoming joins Nightingale College’s four other partnership cohorts located in Utah and Idaho.