Sentara College of Health Sciences:
Preparing Students for the Workplace Today
Sentara College of Health Sciences originated with a registered nursing program over 100 years ago as Norfolk's first nursing program. It was created in 1892 by the forerunner to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, the 25-bed “Retreat for the Sick.” The two-year nursing program was originally taught by physicians.
Throughout the years, growth in the community and expansion of Sentara Healthcare has resulted in the need for additional healthcare technology programs and courses including the introduction of:
Surgical technology program (1950s)
Cardiovascular programs (1982)
Monitor surveillance course (1987)
Care partner course (1994)
Nurse aide education course (2005)
Distance learning nursing program (2007)
Bachelor of science in nursing program, which began this year, with three ways to receive a BSN degree (traditional BSN, LPN to BSN and RN to BSN)
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| A registered nursing program was created in 1892. |
In July 2009, the Sentara School of Health Professions received approval from its accrediting agency and the Virginia Board of Nursing to offer a bachelor of science in nursing degree (BSN). To better reflect the academic level, the school also changed its name to the Sentara College of Health Sciences.
Offering a BSN degree reflects the direction of the nursing profession and the workplace demands for baccalaureate prepared nurses. Graduates will be eligible to enter any graduate nursing program if they choose to further their career.
Sentara College of Health Sciences will be one of five programs in the area that will be offering a baccalaureate degree program for nursing students. It is also the only program in the region directly affiliated with a healthcare system and the new curriculum will offer students the greatest amount of hands-on clinical experience, compared to any other program in the region.
In this issue of
Network Online, you will read about a unique program at the Sentara College of Health Sciences, the Distance Learning Program for nursing students. The program, which recently graduated its first distance learning registered nursing class of 10, offers the classroom component of the program on the peninsula via a distance learning site at the Old Dominion University Peninsula Higher Education Center in Hampton. Students at the Peninsula location have the ability to interact real-time with Sentara instructors and students at the college's flagship location in Chesapeake, while the hands-on experience allows students to train with the latest technology at Sentara facilities on the Peninsula and South Side.
The Sentara College of Health Sciences also offers diploma and certificate programs for cardiovascular technology, surgical technology, care partner, monitor surveillance and nurse aide education.
I would like to congratulate the entire team of the Sentara College of Health Sciences for receiving approval to offer a bachelor of science in nursing degree, and for continuing to expand and design programs that prepare students to transition into the workplace through hands on experience in clinical settings in the most state-of-the-art healthcare facilities in the region today.