WVU, UHC partner on new fast-track nursing program

BRIDGEPORT — West Virginia University hopes to address the shortage of nurses in the state and around the country.

Their newest attempt to do so is with a fast-track nursing program, the first of which will take place this coming January in the newly opened wing of WVU Medicine’s United Hospital Center in Bridgeport.

Tuesday afternoon, officials from WVU and WVU Medicine attended a ribbon cutting to celebrate the expansion for both entities.

The fast-track program allows anyone with a bachelor’s degree in science or arts to return to school and earn a nursing certification in just 18 months. WVU’s School of Nursing hopes to open similar programs in Martinsburg and in the southern half of the state, but the first to open will be housed in Bridgeport.

Tara Hulsey, dean of the WVU School of Nursing, said UHC was planning this new wing at the same time her school was planning to expand as well. The two coincided and created the perfect opportunity to address the shortage that is impacting UHC and to open pathways for more students to enter the profession.

“We’re certainly trying to expand as much as we can across the state in areas that we can to address the nursing workforce shortage we have,” Hulsey said. “It’s a nationwide shortage but we feel it especially hard here in West Virginia.”

The floor the new campus will occupy is complete with classrooms, lounges, study room as well as patient labs and offices for faculty. The first class will have 24 students and a second class will be added as well, reaching a total student occupancy of 48 in the program.

Being connected to UHC will also allow students to have easy access to clinical positions and a short trip back to their classrooms after a day in the field. Hulsey said this campus’s vicinity to a hospital harkens back to when all nursing schools took place inside hospitals.

“The uniqueness is that it is here in the hospital. All our clinical settings and site we have right here where our classrooms are and where the sim-lab is,” Hulsey said. “We’ll be more intertwined with our clinical setting, and I think that’s what will be really unique.”

The expansion of the program was largely made possible with a grant announced by Gov. Jim Justice earlier this year, which he used American Rescue Plan dollars to address the nursing shortage. WVU was awarded $2 million, which funded these expansions.

The program has already boasted success, as 21 or the first 24 slots in the program have been filled.

In addition to the funding, WVU Medicine announced a $100,000 donation Tuesday to the nursing program to show its appreciation to WVU and its support of the profession.

Dr. David Hess, President and CEO of UHC, said the partnership will strengthen the bond between the two organizations who are already tight knit. With top-notch trainers on the hospital’s campus, the instruction being handed to the new students may rub off on the personnel already employed.

“This will cause a halo effect. With a teaching institution inside the hospital, it will make everyone better,” Hess said. “Our staff nurses will go home and make sure they know how to teach things, so we go from being a great community hospital to a hospital where the staff are excited to train the next generation of nurses.”