A BSN to PhD Partnership Program
Oct 28, 2013, 9:00 AM
Adejoke B. Ayoola, PhD, RN, is an assistant professor of nursing in the Department of Nursing at Calvin College and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Nurse Faculty Scholar. Mary Molewyk Doornbos, PhD, RN, is a professor of nursing, also in the Department of Nursing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
It is important to deliver high-quality care to improve health outcomes in the United States. This level of care can only be delivered by well-trained health professionals. Nurses are the single group of health professionals who have the most contact with clients, and are on the forefront of promoting delivery of high-quality care.
One means of addressing the increasing demand to deliver the high-quality care proposed by the Initiative on the Future of Nursing, supported by RWJF and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), is the recommendation to increase the percentage of nurses prepared to enter masters and doctoral level education. Graduate studies prepare nurses to produce and use the best evidence in client care, which will improve health outcomes.
Calvin College Department of Nursing (CCDON), a private liberal arts college, and Michigan State University College of Nursing (MSUCON), a public academic institution, began a partnership program in 2012 to address this initiative of the Future of Nursing. This partnership provides opportunity for eligible students from the undergraduate baccalaureate nursing program to enroll in the accelerated BSN to PhD nursing program at MSUCON.