Nic Nursing Program Gets One-Year Ok

The nursing program at North Idaho College will start the school year with only one-year conditional approval from the state Board of Nursing.

At issue are the academic credentials of its instructors.

“This was a real shock,” program director Joan Brogan said Wednesday.

The conditional status potentially could cause the nursing program to lose its accreditation. That means its graduates could not become licensed nurses. But Brogan is sure that won’t happen.

“I’m really hoping we can get this thing resolved without upsetting students,” she said.

NIC offers a two-year associate degree in nursing. The College of Southern Idaho and Ricks College, which offer the same degree, were put on conditional status in May.

All three schools were cited, in part, because some of their teachers lacked master’s degrees. All three are requesting a hearing before the Board of Nursing. That will take place at the board’s Aug. 21-23 meeting.

At the time of the May meeting, two of NIC’s 10 nursing instructors had only bachelor’s degrees. Both of those people since have resigned, Brogan said.

She’s found one replacement who holds a master’s degree. She’s looking for another.

“They are difficult to find,” she said.

One reason, Brogan said, is that nurses with master’s degrees prefer to teach in their particular specialty - for example, operating room procedure. But instructors in the associate program must teach a variety of subjects.

NIC has 90 to 100 nursing students.

, DataTimes