Buckhannon, W.Va. — West Virginia Wesleyan College’s School of Nursing is adding an Accelerated RN to MSN degree offering. The new program will welcome its first cohort of new students this fall. The RN to MSN program will prepared advanced nurses in one of two concentrations: Family Nurse Practitioner and Nursing Leadership.
The program builds baccalaureate nursing content into the front-end of the program, providing a bridge to graduate study. During the bridge year, students will complete 20 credit hours of bridge coursework. Once the bridge year is completed, students will matriculate into the MSN coursework appropriate to their chosen concentration of study which ranges from 35 to 47 MSN credit hours.
The bridge courses will be offered online and MSN courses will be online. All coursework should be completed in 10 semesters of part-time study.
The RN to MSN program prepares nurses to assume positions requiring graduate preparation including roles in administration, teaching, research, Clinical Nurse Leaders, and Family Nurse Practitioners. Master’s degree-prepared nurses are in high demand across the country today as expert clinicians, nurse executives, clinical educators, health policy consultants, and research assistants.
“To facilitate a better educated workforce, degree completion programs such as the one Wesleyan is offering, provide additional education to registered nurses (RN’s) who receive their initial preparation in diploma and associate degree (ADN) programs,” said Dr. Tina Straight, director of the RN to MSN program. “Our bridge programs build on previous learning, prepare nurses for a higher level of nursing practice, and provide RN’s with the education necessary to move forward in their nursing careers.”
Wesleyan’s School of Nursing is fully accredited by the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Nurses and accredited by the Accreditation for Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc. In addition to the newly added Accelerated RN to MSN degree, The School offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Nursing, Post Graduate Certificate in Family Nurse Practitioner, and Doctorate of Nursing Practitioner.
Wesleyan’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program was recently ranked 26th in the nation and first in West Virginia by RNCareers.org. In addition, the Community for Accredited Online Schools ranked Wesleyan as the Top Nursing School in West Virginia.
Wesleyan’s first-time NCLEX passage rate for BSN students has averaged 94% for the last five years. Graduate students in nursing have also enjoyed great success. The MSN-Family Nurse Practitioner students have a first-time pass rate on national certification exams that has averaged 90% for the last several years.
For more information about the Accelerated RN to MSN program, contact Dr. Straight, at straight_t@wvwc.edu.
