After obtaining an academic degree in
history from Montana State University in 1990, Tara Gallagher moved on to keep jobs
as an office manager, leading bike tours, and working at Bridger Bowl.
Gallagher said
she engaged in the fun jobs.
Then she
settled down, had children, and became a housewife to raise the kids.
When the bad times
hit, her husband who is an architect was not spared from its effect, which made
Gallagher, 44, determined to return into the workforce.
Eventually she
resolved into pursuing a nursing degree after working a couple of temp jobs.
"I guess
that's what I'm good at; I just didn't know it the first time around."
Gallagher revealed.
She was lately accepted
to Montana State University's
new accelerated nursing program.
The new
program, available at the College of Nursing's Bozeman
campus, admits student who already have a bachelor's degree to finish an
undergraduate nursing degree in 16 months. The conventional nursing program
takes students 29 months to complete.
Helen Melland,
dean of the College
of Nursing, said "This
will be a wonderful and efficient way for students who already have a
bachelor's degree in another discipline to begin a second career in nursing."
May is when the
first class of accelerated nursing students will start.
To be accepted
to the program, students must have already finished the normal requirements needed
for traditional nursing students, covering subjects like anatomy and
physiology, chemistry, and microbiology. A grade point average of at least 3.0
is what the students must have. That's higher than what's expected for MSU's traditional
nursing curriculum, Melland revealed.
"We need
really good, strong academic students," Melland said.
Students of the
accelerated nursing program comply to the same curriculum and are expected to
have the same total of clinical hours as conventional nursing students; they
just have to finish it in a shorter amount of time.
According to
Melland, "It's very, very intense."
MSU agreed to make
the accelerated program available on account of the deficit of nurses being seen
state and nationwide.
"What's
really driving our decision to do it is the need," Melland revealed.
"We know that there is a need for nurses, especially in rural areas."
Offering accelerated nursing programs for students with a
bachelor?s degree are pretty common across the nation.
Melland guesses there are more or less 250 such programs across the country."These
programs are very common around the country," she said
A May graduate
from MSU holding a degree in health and human development originally planned to
pursue medical school. Although when Caitlin O'Brien came time to apply, she
just felt different about it.
The thought of
going back for another four years, just as O'Brien graduated from college,
seemed terrifying enough.
Rather she applied
for and was admitted to the accelerated nursing program. She begins in May and
will be completed in August 2012.
The accelerated
program is presently being offered
only
at the Bozeman campus, however it may be
expanded in the time to come to at least one of the College of Nursing's campuses,
which involves Kalispell, Missoula, Great Falls, and Billings.
The College of Nursing plans to accept 16 students into
the program every May, as of date.
"I think
it's a really great opportunity," O'Brien thought.
She anticipates
that the accessibility of this accelerated program will assist more people consider
nursing as a viable career path.