Blue Mountain College to launch nursing program in 2023
Aug. 19—BLUE MOUNTAIN — Blue Mountain College announced the addition of a professional nursing program during a press conference Friday afternoon.
The four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program is now accepting applications, and its first class of nursing students will start in Jan. 2023.
BMC received approval of its nursing program from the State Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees on Thursday, allowing the college to officially begin admitting students.
"For many years, we have had students inquire about nursing at Blue Mountain College," BMC President Dr. Barbara McMillin said. "So this is something that we have long dreamt of being able to do."
The college started the process of adding a nursing program five years ago and administrators have been actively involved in creating the program over the past three years.
"With this expansion, the college fulfills its long-anticipated desire to advance the three-fold ministry of Christ," McMillin said. "The ministry of teaching, preaching and healing."
Nursing school dean Dr. Tammie McCoy joined BMC this summer. She retired the Mississippi University for Women this year, having served as dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences there for four years. She was at The W for a total of 23 years.
McCoy lives in Pontotoc and had a desire to work closer to home, so BMC was the perfect fit. She sees her new role as a wonderful opportunity to help shape the curriculum and work through how to best serve students so that they can be successful as nurses.
And with a need for approximately 3,000 more nurses in Mississippi, largely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, McCoy hopes Blue Mountain's School of Nursing can help with the shortage.
"COVID was very difficult on the nurses," McCoy said. "They had to learn to be the person that was there when someone was dying, so if we're able to bring in our ministerial partners and to collaborate with them, maybe they can then help us to know what we need to do to take a little bit of that stress away from the nurses."
She and a team of six other faculty members will serve as instructors for the program.
Gov. Tate Reeves was unable to attend in-person Friday, but shared a pre-recorded video with the college in which he congratulated BMC on its new degree program.
"As you know well, our nation needs more nurses," Reeves said. "That's why it's more important than ever that Mississippi's colleges help train the nurses of the future. The launch of your new program is a valuable step in solving that problem and it could not come at a better time."
BMC's School of Nursing will be housed in a newly renovated facility, which was once the education annex of the former Lowrey Memorial Baptist Church. It includes eight office spaces, two classrooms, a skills lab, a conference room and four simulation centers. The college is already in the planning stages for a new nursing and science building that will be located on the front lawn, McMillin said.
During the first two years of college, traditional students seeking to enter the nursing program will take general education courses. They will then apply for the nursing program during the latter part of their sophomore year. Pending acceptance into the program, students will then take partake in four semesters of classroom, laboratory and clinical experiences.
In addition to clinical rotations, students will get hands-on experience in the college's simulation labs, where they can hone their clinical judgment and critical thinking skills. Simulation centers augment classroom instruction and clinical settings using patient simulator manikins and other high-fidelity simulations that provide students with engaging and challenging learning opportunities.
