The School of Nursing at Millikin University has changed the institution’s history by obtaining its first doctoral program.
“We’re very proud of it,” says Dr. Deborah Slayton, Dean of Professional Studies.
The program launches in January of 2014. The nursing faculty and Slayton herself will be able to see all of the hard work they have put in since they started seeking the program in 2008 pay off. The program will be a DNP, doctor of nursing practice, with a track for anesthetics nursing.
“A nurse anesthetist does most of the delivery of anesthetic agents,” Dr. Kathy Booker, Director of Nursing, says. Most of these nurses will end up working with anesthesiologists to perform surgeries varying from open heart to the removal of brain tumors.
“They have a very strong level of responsibility and they’re very good at what they do,” she says. “They have a huge obligation for patient care and safety. So their coursework and sequencing is very intense and their clinical practice requirements very high.”
To say their coursework is intense is putting it lightly. “During the program they will log well over 2,000 clinical hours and they have to have a number of cases to become nationally certified and licensed,” Booker says.
Though there are a lot of responsibilities involved in not only the program, but the occupation itself, many are stepping up to the challenge. As Booker describes, “This is a very popular track for nursing.”
There were around 35 applicants to the program and only 24 were chosen for interviews. The interviews took place on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at Decatur Memorial Hospital. Of those 24 people interviewed, only 15 or 16 will be accepted for the first doctoral classes starting in January.
“We have all the courses covered for January launch,” she says. “It will be fun but it’s also a lot of work.”
To help with this “big endeavor” as she calls it, the School of Nursing is looking to add two new faces to its staff. They are now in the process of writing up a job description and getting it advertised.
“We’re really looking for someone who holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and really understands the program well or who has a Ph.D in nursing and can really help students through all the project work,” Booker says.
This new DNP program is one of several that are being created around the United States.
“It’s a national trend,” Booker said. She explains that other occupations such as occupational therapy, pharmacy, and physical therapy have all followed this trend. Unlike a Ph.D program where most of the degree is research based, these programs follow a practice doctorate since they are practice disciplines.
“There aren’t very many nurse anesthesia programs across the United States,” Booker says. “Most states only have one, [and] there are a lot of states that have none. Schools across the United States began developing these programs as fast as they could,” Booker says.
Slayton adds, “There are only 5 nurse anesthesia programs in Illinois and we’re one of the first ones to start the Doctor of Nursing Practice.”
Having this new doctoral track will change the Master’s program ever so slightly. Right now there are four tracks, but one of those is aesthetics nursing. Due to the doctoral track, there will now only be three Master of Science in Nursing programs: nurse educator, clinical nurse leader, and MENP.
The nursing school has handled changes well in the past, though. Dr. Slayton was the Director of Nursing in 2006 and for a few years was both the Director of Nursing and Dean of Professional Studies. “I was my own boss,” she says. Booker left for a few years and decided to come back to Illinois. She then took over as Director of Nursing.
Slayton had nothing but praise for Dr. Kathy Booker. “I’m really fortunate that Dr. Booker, who has been a long time faculty member, a leader in the school of nursing, could take over the Nursing Program,” Slayton says.
She also had high praise for the nursing faculty and what they have accomplished thus far. She talked up “their ability to be able to look into the future of nursing education.” Slayton says, “If they didn’t already have the experience related to what we were about to create they made themselves experts in it so that we could accomplish it.”
“We talk about students being lifelong learners. The nursing faculty are lifelong learners too,” Slayton says. “They all said ‘Let’s figure it out. Let’s go look at other programs and figure it out.’ That’s what the nursing faculty are about.”
Looking at the new doctoral program from a bigger perspective, Slayton says, “I think it demonstrates the profession of nursing has changed. I also think it demonstrates that the nursing faculty are very energetic and creative. They never met a challenge that they couldn’t meet.”
Booker says, “Yes, it’s exciting. It’s an opportunity. It helps our standing within the community to have a program like this.”
The nursing profession has been changing. With the ever-increasing healthcare systems, nurses have been in high demand. Programs like the ones at Millikin are becoming more important with each year that goes by.