by Kerry Smith
July 20, 1998

Nobody knows how difficult it is to juggle college and a full-time job better than Shirley Dostal, RN. She spent the last 2 1/2 years in a baccalaureate program developed by Holy Names College in Oakland, California, and Kaiser Permanente, her employer, that allowed her to balance classes with the demands of her job as an ob/gyn service manager.

This spring, 100 registered nurses, including Dostal, became the first to receive their bachelor's degrees through the program.

How it works

Students enrolled in the Holy Names College nursing program must already be registered nurses and have associate degrees. They spend two nights a week in class, taking two classes a semester, for 2 1/2 years. The program is aimed at adult learners, and the average age is 44, said Arlene Sargent, EdD, MSN, RN, chair of Holy Names College's nursing program. Two-way audio and video technology allows instructors in one location to reach classrooms at seven sites statewide. The sites change depending on the location of the nurses enrolled in the program, Sargent said.

Dostal believes that the combination of Kaiser's business and technological expertise and Holy Names College's generous degree of flexibility was what made it possible for her to earn her BSN. "Kaiser and Holy Names literally brought the program to our worksite and even worked with me one-on-one for an entire semester to enable me to graduate. I can't speak highly enough of this program and of its commitment to support nurses professionally."

Nurses' changing roles

The curriculum gives registered nurses the depth of theory and managerial education they need to fulfill their widening roles in the late 1990s and beyond, said Linda Jensen, MSN, RN, Kaiser Permanente's director of utilization management and former director of distance learning. Kaiser realized that lots of its nurses had associate degrees or diplomas and offered the program as a way to contribute to their professional growth, Jensen said. "As the healthcare environment has changed and practice has expanded well beyond the walls of the hospital, we felt the need to prepare our nurses to move into both independent practice and interdependent practice, where the nurse works a great deal more with the physician."

Teaching crucial skills

Jensen and Sargent say the BSN program offers nurses what associate degree curricula cannot-an in-depth study of theory, management skills, nursing research, community health, and epidemiology. Jensen said the BSN curriculum teaches nurses how to be critical thinkers and how to coordinate care. "In California, approximately 70 percent of nurses are educated at the associate degree level," Sargent said, "and yet studies consistently document that the skills of the baccalaureate nurse are what's necessary in the work force today. As nurses supervise more and more unlicensed personnel in home health settings and elsewhere, the skills the BSN program teaches will continue to be crucial."

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For more information Call Holy Names College, (510) 436-1120 or (510) 436-1321. The eight-semester program costs about $1,500 a semester and is open to all California RNs. The application deadline for January 1999 admission is Dec. 1.

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