Starting in spring 2025, Odessa College will launch its RN to BSN program.
Mayowa Otuada is director for the RN to BSN program, and Dawn Johnson, BSN faculty, works alongside Otuada.
“Our goal is … to empower nurses … to deliver safe, evidence-based, compassionate, holistic care to patients, to family and also to the community at large,” Otuada said.
The program has received approval from the Texas Board of Nursing and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and is awaiting approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS COC).
They are hoping to have all the information on their website this month. Applicants can then start applying to the program, Otuada said. The application portal, she said, will be open until November and they hope to start sending acceptance letters out in December.
Otuada said there is a cap on the number of students they can take, per the Board of Nursing.
“We are taking 32 students,” Otuada said.
Johnson said they are expecting a lot of applicants.
Otuada said this is a post-licensure program for registered nurses that already have an associate degree in nursing.
“Those will be registered nurses with an associate degree in nursing that are seeking to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing. That’s why it’s called the RN to BSN. But since you’re already a registered nurse with an associate degree in nursing, just seeking your bachelor’s degree in nursing,” Otuada added.
There is one full-time faculty member and up to four adjunct faculty.
The program will take a year and be totally online, with the exception of two clinical components, Johnson said.
The tuition is as low as $5,024 in-district. The out-of-district tuition is $6,704.
“Those clinical courses will take place with our local facility partners … Medical Center is prepared to completely stand behind us with this program. They’re really excited about what this will do for our community,” Johnson said.
Nurses in the program can complete clinical hours with their current employers. They can also log hours at doctors’ officers.
“What that’ll do is put them in a position to complete their clinical hours from a leadership perspective. They won’t be at bedside completing the clinical hours. They will shadow their nurse educators, their unit directors, their administrators, so they can see what positions and what activities, baccalaureate-prepared nurses do in our facility partners,” Johnson said.
She added that they are also going to help facilitate where the nurses work to help strengthen their partnerships and give the students the best experience as a baccalaureate prepared nurse.
This will give the nurses a “bird’s-eye” perspective from an administrative and leadership viewpoint.
“They’re going to have an opportunity to see that in their clinical component, versus at the bedside, where they would be the recipient of the new policy and the new rollout. They’re going to see how these measures are taken as a baccalaureate prepared nurse experiencing the clinical component side of this particular course. We’re really excited to be able to offer that to them,” Johnson said.
Otuada said the baccalaureate prepared nurses can use research to help make life better for people in the community and implement effective processes at their hospitals.
“One big advantages is … evidence-based practice. … You’re not just practicing what you’ve been told to do. There is evidence behind every action and every task that you perform as a nurse,” Otuada said.
It also gives you better patient outcomes, Johnson said.
“If they’re not prepared to do this, if they can identify the trends, if they can’t research it, then we’re not going to see those improved patient outcomes. You have to take the nurse and their skill set and start to teach their brain how to identify and read the data, identify the trends; and then go and perform the research. And then not just perform the research, but know how to implement that. What you see,” Johnson said.
This also prepares nurses to present their findings and recommendations to committees within the hospital.
Otuada said they are preparing the students to be lifelong learners.
“Just keep going,” she added.
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