University of St. Francis, SAMC partnership sees growth

Nursing program gets more space, needs instructors

CROWN POINT - The University of Saint Francis-Crown Point nursing education program is growing in more ways than one and is looking for help.

Beginning Aug. 24, the Saint Anthony Medical Center location of the Fort Wayne- based university will add a two-year Associate of Science in Nursing degree program to six other course offerings. The hospital-university partnership began in 2006 with 12 students, eight of whom were in the first graduating class in 2008.

Twenty-four students are enrolled in the new course. A total of 86 students will participate in nursing degree programs and in General Education classes leading to those programs, in the upcoming semester.

Program growth also is necessitating a move to larger, temporary quarters and is generating a call for more instructors.

USF-Crown Point, which had been located in the Burrell Cancer Institute on the Saint Anthony campus, is moving to space inside the hospital that is more than twice the size of the current location and will be ready in time for the August session, according to Janet Weirick, site director.
Plans call for construction of a permanent USF-Crown Point School of Nursing to be built on 10 acres south of Franciscan Point, Saint Anthony’s outpatient treatment complex at 12800 Mississippi Parkway (just east of Interstate 65 along U.S. 231). That facility is expected to open in three to five years, when projected enrollment is approximately 500 students.

Growth also presents the need for more faculty members, a factor cited as a cause of a nationwide nursing shortage. Adjunct instructors, preferably practicing nurses who have master’s or bachelor’s degrees working toward master’s, are sought. USF-Crown Point currently has three full-time and five adjunct instructors.
Its other degree offerings include:
* Licensed Practical Nurse to Associate of Science in Nursing.
* Registered Nurse to Master of Science (Nursing Transition Sequence).
* Master of Science in Healthcare Administration.
* Master of Science in Nursing (Family Nurse Practitioner).
* Master of Science in Nursing (Community Health and Education.
* Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

For more information on USF-Crown Point programs or on becoming an instructor, call Margaret Stoffregen-DeYoung, nursing program director, at (219) 681-6800.