Before 1993, the San Fernando Valley had no educational opportunities for nursing students. Fast-forward 22 years, and the California State University, Northridge nursing department has grown from its humble beginnings to offering a Master’s of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree.
According to Marianne Hattar-Pollara, chair of the CSUN nursing department, “In response to the market demands to offer the MSN degree at CSUN, and in response to the shortage of advanced practice nurses and nurse educators, the department had completed the development of the MSN curriculum, completed the review at the college and campus levels, and is planning to offer the MSN program in fall of 2017, pursuant to the CSU Chancellor’s office approval.”
Marty Highfield, who taught the CSUN nursing department’s very first class, remembers the early stages of the department before its evolution.
“In the beginning, there was a small RN-BSN (Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing) program with two full-time faculty members,” Highfield said. “When I came, we were part of the health and science department in old trailers, on the side of campus.”
With the community’s financial support, including from local community colleges, hospitals and businesses, the program expanded from its inception in 1985. Thirty years later, the department has risen to include some notable achievements, through the collaboration of faculty, staff and community members.
In 2005, Highfield became the only tenured faculty member and director of the department.
“My philosophy was that either the program was growing or coming to an end,” she said. She set out on an ambitious project to develop a new curriculum for the accelerated bachelor’s degree. “I hired one full-time instructor, and she and I put together the curriculum that launched in 2007. The reason we selected that accelerated version was because it was the fastest way to produce a bachelor’s degree nurse, and that’s what the market wanted.”
The Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (A-BSN) is a much more labor-intensive program because students need the intensive clinical courses.
In 2011, Marianna Hattar-Pollara was hired as a professor and director of the nursing program. In order to increase the visibility of the nursing program at CSUN and to achieve the strategic vision for the program’s growth, Hattar-Pollara defended a campuswide proposal to separate the nursing program from the Department of Health Science – creating the Department of Nursing. She was elected as the chair of the department and subsequently defended a proposal for building a new space to house the fledgling department.
Since the creation of the department, the number of tenure-track faculty members tripled. By fall of 2013, the number of A-BSN students had increased by 50 percent. With that growth, the program also added 50 percent more clinical training sites. The RN-BSN enrollment also doubled through the creation of four collaborative pathways for RN-BSN students.
In fall 2013, the department completed the self-study for the Board of Registered Nursing’s (BRN) review and approval. Subsequently, the department received full board approval for the entire approval period.
By fall 2014, the department completed the self-study for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) for accreditation and hosted the site visit for the CCNE’s appointed reviewers. Later, the department received full accreditation for the entire accreditation period.
The department also offers the Nurse Educator Certificate program to prepare nurse educators — with the financial help from a Song-Brown grant that was awarded to the department.
In preparation for the launching of the MSN program and the expected increase in student enrollment, the department defended proposals to expand the nursing skills and simulation labs. Work is underway to expand the functional capacity of both labs by 35 percent.
In addition, the department has created partnerships with clinical affiliates in the community, thus aiding the program to produce practice-ready nursing graduates. With this hands-on experience, MSN students are fully capable to enter the workforce after graduation.
“The nursing department is proud to meet the increasing need of CSUN’s community by offering an excellent academic program that is a match to the Ivy League academic excellence, but with a state budget,” Hattar-Pollara said. “Along with meeting state and national standards — including excellent pass rates, high employment of graduates and high student and employer satisfaction with the program — the department is also cognizant of the need to develop leadership among its graduates and has developed the chapter for the national nursing students’ association.”
“The board pass rates have been above national benchmark, and some classes have passed at 100 percent,” Highfield said. “The other benchmark is whether people get jobs, and we have had a very strong track record with that.”
Hattar-Pollara added that with the Nursing Alumni Association’s re-engagement, graduates are supported with resources to excel post-graduation. The department also emphasizes the success of underrepresented minority students with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Song-Brown grant.
Eighty percent of nurses accepted into the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles internship program in 2013 were CSUN graduates; 40 percent of accepted applicants in the Northridge Hospital and Medical Center Versant internship program in 2012 were CSUN graduates; and 70 percent of accepted applicants in the 2013 Cedars-Sinai internship program were products of this program.
“CSUN students are sought after, and a large percentage of clinical affiliate internship programs are made up of CSUN nursing graduates,” said Hattar-Pollara.
“Now, as the department of nursing has become a full-fledged department, with the critical mass of faculty, staff and infrastructure resources, we seek to give back to the community that helped launch the program,” said Hattar-Pollara.
“Many graduates of the program work locally in the greater Los Angeles area,” Highfield said. “At CSUN, we look to serve our community, and this is how this department does that.”
From the RS-BSN graduate pool, approximately 20-25 percent go on to earn graduate degrees as nurse practitioners, and in medical and law school. Many have gone on to study nursing education, public health, clinical nursing, administration and more.
“I’m very proud to have been a faculty member in the CSUN nursing department, and that we produce excellent BSN nurses,” Highfield said.
For more information on CSUN’s nursing programs, visit the department’s website at http://www.csun.edu/health-human-development/nursing.