Hearkening back to early nurse training practices, the Brockton Hospital
School of Nursing is a remarkable place for people to earn their registered
nurse degree. It is the only hospital-based nursing school left in the state of
Massachusetts. It is a local institution that strives to pull this useful
learning tool into the 21st century, connected by strong roots in its history.
Despite the system of nursing school attached to hospital being famed Florence
Nightingale's preference, this sort of learning environment has been on the
decline in recent years because of social changes. Dawn M. Kappel, spokeswoman
for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing explained, ?It used to be
very common, but the rise of the community college programs pretty much changed
the way nurses are educated.??
Nightingale's own groundbreaking nursing school was opened at London hospital in
1860. For the next century, most nursing education happened in a hospital
setting. In the 1960s the United States had over 800 hospital-based diploma
schools for nurses. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing reports that
these days, only 68 remain; a mere 4 percent of registered nurse (RN) programs.
In this early period, nurses also had other duties that nurses today would not
be expected to fulfill. For example, nurses also cleaned chimneys, wa3shed
windows, mopped floors, and fueled stoves. In 1965, the American Nurses
Association pushed through changes in nursing standards for entry-level nurses.
No longer able to rely on nursing students for so much extraneous labor, nursing
schools became less profitable for hospitals and have now mostly been
eliminated.
Today there are many ways to become a nurse. The requirements are that one must
have graduated from a training program and passed a licensing exam. Training
programs can be through a four-year baccalaureate degree, a two-year associate
degree, or a hospital-based diploma. In 2010, 73,670 of the nursing students
came from baccalaureate and associate degree programs, while only 1,777 came
from hospital-based diploma programs.
Since 1898, Brockton Hospital has graduated 2,500 students who went on to become
RNs. The School of Nursing currently has 334 students in two divisions, both
full-time and part-time students. Full-time students can finish the program in
two years because they attend during the day. Part-time students will take four
years to complete the program, taking classes on weekends and during the
evening. Dean Susan L. Taylor spoke of the advantages of hospital based nursing
schools. Benefits she highlighted included getting to know how a hospital really
runs, and the ability to evolve and adapt quickly because of less bureaucracy to
work through.
Brockton has worked with several area colleges over the years. Fisher College
and Brockton Hospital School of Nursing have been partnered for the last 20
years to teach nursing students courses in anatomy, physiology, mircobiology,
pharmacology, and psychology. Still, it points to its students' licensing exam
pass rate in comparison to college-based programs; Last year 93 percent of
Brockton students passed, compared to 91 percent by Curry College and Quincy
College, and 83 percent by Massasoit Community College.