McDaniel College to address nursing shortage with new program this fall
A new nursing program at McDaniel College in Westminster, available starting this fall, is aiming to help address the nursing shortage in Carroll County, according to a college news release.
Initial approval from the Maryland Board of Nursing was announced earlier this month. Approval from the other relevant state entity, the Maryland Higher Education Commission, was granted last April.
A $150,000 grant from the Kahlert Foundation will support the program’s development, and Carroll Hospital will partner with the college to build the program in a way that addresses the local nursing shortage.
“Hospitals are struggling to fill all of the open nursing positions they have, so the Carroll Hospital has been very supportive of having a local BSN [Bachelor of Science in Nursing] program that can help them reduce workforce shortages in nursing,” McDaniel Provost Flavius Lilly said in July.
Garrett Hoover, president of Carroll Hospital – LifeBridge Health, supported the program by writing a letter to the state commission. “It is incumbent upon us as health care professionals to do whatever we can to support and grow the supply of nursing students,” he wrote.
The program’s curriculum will include opportunities to use the hospital’s Kahlert Foundation Simulation Center, a $2 million facility opened June 2022 to provide realistic medical situations for health professionals as part of their education, as well as training on-campus at McDaniel. It is not yet clear what that partnership will look like.
Heather Gable will serve as McDaniel’s first nursing program director, the college announced in October. She will be responsible for implementing the program, including curriculum development and instruction, hiring program faculty, and identifying policies and practices.
Gable, 47, comes to McDaniel with more than 25 years of experience in nursing in a wide variety of settings. She most recently worked as dean of Centra College, a private, nonprofit college in Lynchburg, Virginia.
The idea to add a nursing program was sparked by the success of a health sciences major introduced in 2020, which includes a nursing specialization, Lilly said.
Health sciences is among 11 majors McDaniel debuted in 2020, including actuarial science, American Sign Language, applied mathematics, biochemistry, biomedical science, criminal justice, food studies, international business, marketing and writing/publishing.
Carroll Community College offers an associate degree in nursing, but the new McDaniel program will offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
The two degree programs will feature some of the same curriculum, although the nursing specialization in the health sciences major is geared toward students interested in continuing their medical education while the bachelor’s in nursing program will be designed so that students can work as nurses after graduating
“While all nursing programs support and educate on critical thinking, reasoning and judgment, research and professional development, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree provides a more comprehensive education for students who are in the program for four years, supporting the ability to dive deeper into nursing theory, research, informatics and practice,” Gable told the Carroll County Times in October. “Often, the bachelor of science in nursing degree opens doors to a broader range of job opportunities in leadership and management positions and prepares students to enter graduate nursing education programs.”
Gable said she is honored to apply her vision to the program as its inaugural director. “This is a pioneering effort that offers the chance to leave a lasting impact,” Gable told the Carroll County Times.
The program will be available to transfer, first-year and third-year McDaniel students, according to the release.
