Oklahoma State University will begin offering a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree on the Stillwater campus during the 2023-24 school year.
The new degree program reflects OSU’s land-grant mission and will help meet workforce demands and improve health care in Oklahoma, which is facing an ongoing and critical shortage of nurses.
According to the state Nurses Association, Oklahoma is ranked 46th in the nation for the number of registered nurses per capita. In 2021 the national average was 1,100 nurses per 100,000 people; in Oklahoma, the average was about 700. In 2021, 35% of the licensed nurses in Oklahoma were at or near retirement age.
“The shortage of qualified health care providers in Oklahoma is going to intensify without a focused effort to provide pathways of opportunity for aspiring nurses,” OSU President Kayse Shrum said. “As a physician, I learned firsthand the immense value nurses provide in patient care. You cannot run a hospital or clinic without their expertise.”
The program is housed in the School of Community Health Sciences, Counseling and Counseling Psychology, which is part of the College of Education and Human Sciences, and is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The BSN program will offer students the opportunity to focus on underserved and rural populations and to infuse prevention and total wellness practices in health care systems in Oklahoma.
Approximately one-third of the students studying in the College of Education and Human Sciences are pursuing degrees related to nutritional, physical, mental or relational health, said Dr. Jon Pedersen, dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences. In adding the new degree program, “We’re strengthening our work to prepare graduates for high-demand jobs in the growing health care sector.”
The BSN program will provide a framework for collaboration with other health care professions, as students will have opportunities to participate in clinical experiences with health care partners in rural and urban settings alike.
Six hundred hours of clinical experience will be gained through partnership with medical facilities such as Stillwater Medical Center, OSU Medical Center-Tulsa, and more as the program expands.
The university is renovating space on campus to create a new, fully equipped simulation lab for the program, targeted for completion in 2024.
BSN prepared nurses can work in acute care facilities as well as community settings. Career paths include forensic nursing, health policy nurse, home health, hospice, intensive care unit nursing, labor and delivery nursing, medical surgery nurse, nurse educator, school nurse, oncology, and pediatrics.
Graduates of the program will be prepared to pursue advanced practice degrees to become nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists and clinical nurse leaders.
In the semester prior to completion of 59 hours of prerequisite coursework, students will submit a competitive application to continue professional coursework toward the nursing degree. In the program’s inaugural year, OSU expects to admit 50 students to continue with nursing laboratories, simulations and clinical experiences. The number of professional nursing students will increase to 100 in year two.
Oklahoma State also offers an online RN-to-BSN completion degree program. The RN-to-BSN has been ranked among the nation’s best online degree programs by EduMed.org, which highlights programs based on overall quality, affordability and commitment to student success.
Just 6% of regionally accredited colleges and universities, and only 8% of nationally accredited institutions, earned a ranking position.