Two New Jersey Universities to Offer Master’s in School Nursing
By Stephanie Loder, Asbury Park Press, N.J.
Aug. 6–Beginning in September, Ocean County College and Kean University will offer students a master’s-level program in school nursing.
The first-time program lets nursing students earn a Master of Science in nursing degree in school nursing. The joint program is designed to help area students afford a local college and attain a master’s degree, said Virginia Fitzsimons.
“School nurses are in great demand,” said Fitzsimons, program coordinator at the Southern Education Center at Ocean County College in the Manahawkin section of the township. “Hundreds of school nurses are going to be needed this fall in New Jersey.”
The reason more school nurses are needed is because special-needs children are now being mainstreamed at the request of parents, Fitzsimons said. Mainstreaming means taking a physically challenged student out of a special-educational environment and placing them among traditional students.
“Mainstreaming has caused a dramatic need for school nurses,” Fitzsimons said.
She said school nurses are not just taking temperatures and calling parents when a child is sick in school.
Rather, the role of the school nurse now includes things such as overseeing student medical records and making sure immunizations are up to date, helping students who may have Type I or Type II diabetes administer medication, or help students who may have a history of seizures or who have a colostomy bag.
Mainstreamed students also could be on oxygen, have some type of breathing tube or stent, or require intravenous medication during the school day.
“Parents are advocating that their children be in the regular school system,” said Fitzsimons. “These students used to be in separate schools. They want them in regular schools so they get the childhood school experience. And in order to comply, school nurses are needed.”
Kean University, Union, has been associated with OCC for 1 1/2 years, and has helped OCC to offer students a total of 16 majors.
On Friday, senior nursing students gave presentations of senior projects and listened to speakers at the educational center.
Jeffrey H. Toney, dean of Kean’s College of Natural, Applied and Health Sciences, said Friday he was encouraged by nursing students at the college.
“I’m able to tell these graduate candidates what the community needs and what they are looking for,” said Toney, who formerly worked for a pharmaceutical research firm.
As well, speaker Margaret H. Sell, assistant vice president of Patient Care Services at Southern Ocean County Hospital, said nursing students exhibit “a passion.”
“You can feel that passion in that room,” Sell said. “People have their full-time jobs, but this is their profession, and they are in the classroom studying to learn more because they are in love with their job.”
Many students come to the college for an associate degree, but Fitzsimons said they can now stay on to get a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
The average age of students at OCC is 31, she said.
“Cost to attend the nursing program at OCC is one-third the cost of a private college,” Fitzsimons said. “We charge $360 per credit, and a private college can cost more than $1,000 per credit.”
“You can have access to the college without crippling your bank account and without having to graduate with a big student loan,” she added.
A starting nurse, Fitzsimons said, can make $60,000 with an increase of up to $180,000 for a director of nursing.
Suzanne Urban of the Bayville section of Berkeley, a registered nurse, said she is a single mother and would never have been able to complete her nursing training if it was not for the program at OCC.
“The costs, the fees, the fuel,” Urban said. “The location was a fabulous thing because I was close to home.”
Clare Camarda of Manahawkin, also a registered nurse, said the price of gas would have stopped her from getting her degree elsewhere.
“Even if I went up to Toms River, that’s an hour’s drive,” said Camarda. “This program at OCC suited me much better.”
For more information, call Fitzsimons at the Southern Education Center at (609) 361-8852.
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