B.S.N. program earns state board approval

Northwestern College’s department of nursing has received full approval from the Iowa Board of Nursing. A board team conducted a site visit in October. Dr. Ruth Daumer, Northwestern nursing department chairperson, received notification of the board’s approval this month.

“The team members’ oral report in October was glowing,” says Dr. Jasper Lesage, provost. “They confirmed that the quality of our nursing program is not just adequate, it’s exceptional.”

“That’s the last hurdle,” says Daumer, who began work on establishing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Northwestern in 2005–06. “The final approval couldn’t be granted until after we graduated our first class of nurses. For one thing, they had to wait to see how our first graduates did on their board exams.”

The first eight students graduated from Northwestern’s nursing program in last May. All eight have since passed their nursing board exams and are members of healthcare teams in hospitals across the U.S. The Iowa Board of Nursing approved the program for the maximum period of six years.

Northwestern’s nursing department offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). This year the college expects to graduate 13 nurses; Daumer reports that several have already accepted job offers.