Serving Those Who Serve Their Country: Preparing Military Veterans for Nursing Degrees

Challenges remain for integrating Veterans into civilian occupations postservice. This article describes an innovative project affording military service personnel serving in health occupational specialties the opportunity for completion of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. The Vets2BSN...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of nursing education 2019-08, Vol.58 (8), p.444-453
Main Authors: McNeal, Gloria, Smith, Tyler C, Tontz, Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic degrees
Armed forces
Diffusion of Innovation
Education
Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate - organization & administration
Educational Environment
Humans
Language Proficiency
Management
Mentors
Military personnel
Nursing
Nursing education
Nursing Education Research
Nursing Evaluation Research
Prospective Studies
Retention
Science Curriculum
Standardized Tests
Students
Students, Nursing
Veterans
Veterans - education
Workforce planning
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Summary:Challenges remain for integrating Veterans into civilian occupations postservice. This article describes an innovative project affording military service personnel serving in health occupational specialties the opportunity for completion of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. The Vets2BSN project, launched in July 2014, has achieved several years of enrollment and graduation success using standardized measures and assessment of student modifiers to establish project success. Nearly 80 eligible students holding current or former rank as corpsmen or medics have enrolled in the program with 59 conferrals and an NCLEX pass rate of 98% (48 of 49). Prospective assessment of progress allows real-time intervention and remediation to achieve successful graduation rates. Collaboration of university administration and faculty has provided a foundation for reintegration of military health professionals possessing skills allowing for educational credit and acceleration of studies toward earning the BSN and joining the workforce as nursing professionals. [J Nurs Educ. 2019;58(8):444-453.].
ISSN:0148-4834
1938-2421
DOI:10.3928/01484834-20190719-03