Moncton college launches three-year nursing program

Article content

A new accelerated program at Oulton College will see students graduating with a nursing degree within three years.

The college will launch its Bachelor of Science in Nursing program this fall with 36 seats, making the school the province’s first college to offer a degree program. 

“We were looking for a way to be unique and there are very few three-year programs. At the time we started this process, there were no three-year programs in this province,” Oulton president Darcie Reidpath said during a news conference Monday.

“Oulton’s mission is always efficiency in education, so getting students in and allowing them to get to the market to work as quickly and as efficiently as possible.” 

Incoming students will study for 36 months without a summer break. The program will focus on practical knowledge, offering more than 1,700 hours of hands-on experience, including more than 1,300 hours dedicated to clinical settings.

To launch the program, the school had to receive a designation to confer degrees. This process includes an assessment of a school’s operations and the proposed program by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission. 

Reidpath said the process involved the college hiring new faculty members to teach the course. 

The school currently offers a personal support worker program and a practical nurse program. Reidpath said there is a lot of interest in the new program, including from practical nursing students and alumni. She said the school plans to introduce a formal bridging program in the future. 

Reidpath said the school also plans to move all of its nursing programs to its recently purchased building on Elmwood Drive but students will continue to study in a practical lab at the Flanders campus until the renovations at the new building are completed. 

Greg Turner, minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training, and Labour, took part in Monday’s event.

“Today’s announcement will both advance the post-secondary education sector, enhance nursing education and recruitment here in New Brunswick,” he said. 

Turner recalled when the Moncton Hospital was built and included a school of nursing.

“Over the years we’ve kind of got away from that and now we’re kind of going to get back to that,” he said. 

Health Minister Bruce Fitch also took part in the event. He said there have been significant increases in the number of nurses hired in recent years. According to Fitch, there has been a net increase of more than 1,000 practical and registered nurses hired by the two regional health authorities since 2018, and between April 1, 2023, and Jan. 17, 2024, they hired 509 permeant LPNs and RNs. 

“Progress is occurring but I tell you, there is still a need for more RNs within the system,” he said. 

“When those students walk across the stage in three years … they’ll have a job waiting for them.”