NAU-Yuma to offer accelerated nursing program
New nursing program can be completed in 16 months
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Northern Arizona University (NAU) - Yuma plans to launch a new nursing program in Fall 2023 that will shorten by nearly half the time it takes nursing students to get through their prerequisites.
The Compressed Bachelor of Science in Nursing can be completed in 16 months rather than 30 months in a traditional program says NAU-Yuma.
The Arizona Department of Health Services gave a $6.4 million grant to help pay for scholarships for nursing students in the program.
This is to help nursing students graduate and be practice-ready to work in hospitals in Arizona that need professional nurses.
“Arizona is ranked in the top five states nationwide experiencing severe nursing shortages,” Lillian Smith, dean of NAU’s College of Health and Human Services said. “NAU is positioned to address this critical shortage by increasing access to high-quality accelerated nursing programs which will decrease the time of completion for practice-ready bachelor’s prepared nurses to enter the workforce.”
The National Council for State Boards of Nursing's survey said 100,000 nurses left the profession due to pandemic-related stress and burnout.
And the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 275,000 nurses will be needed between now and 2030.
“NAU has a rich history of serving rural and underserved communities,” Janina Johnson, executive director of NAU’s School of Nursing said. “The tuition scholarships remove economic barriers for those individuals who may be unable to return to school for financial reasons. With this grant and NAU’s School of Nursing strong track record offering quality nursing education, we can support and graduate more nurses and build the nursing workforce across all Arizona communities.”
