To combat the problem and increase the number of nursing students, The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies, working under a three-year grant from the Health Research and Service Administration (HRSA) and the Nursing Education Practice and Retention program (NEPR), over the next year will migrate the school’s Certificate in Nursing Education program from a hybrid format to completely on-line to expand geographical reach and enrollment capacity nationwide. The Certificate in Nursing Education program is designed for baccalaureate prepared nurses to provide additional education and skills required to expand their responsibilities at their hospitals or clinics as nursing instructors. The goal over the next year is to utilize “on-line learning” as a new option to attract and create additional nurse educators as instructors.
According to Nilda (Nena) P. Peragallo Montano, DrPH, RN, FAAN, Professor and Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Miami, “one of the main challenges of our current Nurse Education program has been resolving scheduling difficulties for working nurses to attend courses on campus. The on-line component should resolve this problem. Our goal is to offer this program for the first three years at a reduced tuition of $5000 per student as a catalyst for hospitals and other clinical agencies to encourage current employees to enter and complete the curriculum to provide more nursing educators.”
The Certificate in Nursing Education is a four-course, fifteen credit program offered over two consecutive semesters, fall and spring. The plan is to keep nurses at the bedside and benefit clinical partners by assisting them with retention and career advancement strategies for their nursing staff. The program provides focused coursework in the areas of educational learning theory, curriculum and instructional design. The focus is to prepare graduates for nursing positions in staff development, continuing education and RN programs. Graduates are invited to apply to the School of Nursing and Health Studies MSN program and can use their 15-credits towards our 30-credit MSN in Education degree.
A projected 117 new nurse educators will graduate from the program by 2013. Graduates will add additional clinical nursing instructors to assist ADN and BSN programs, hospitals and other clinical agencies throughout South Florida, thereby increasing enrollment capacity for new nursing students and improving the quality of care in all clinical settings. The anticipated project impact will lead to increased capacity at nursing schools and increased numbers of culturally-sensitive RN’s, which in turn will address nursing workforce shortage issues in the region and help close the serious health disparity gaps in Miami Dade County and beyond.
Admission eligibility criteria for the Certificate in Nursing Education Program are a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree and current license as a registered nurse. Once enrolled, students must earn a grade of B or better in all courses and must accumulate a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for graduation. Upon successful completion of the program students are awarded a Certificate in Nursing Education from the University of Miami.
