School doubling enrollment and launching PhD program to fill the need

When a woman under her care at Carle Hospital in Urbana, Illinois, developed new symptoms, registered nurse Megan Klotz (NURS’16) drew on her knowledge, consulted other healthcare professionals, and, following the team’s assessment, continued monitoring her.

While her patient remained stable, Klotz was not satisfied. “I kept digging through her chart for answers. It was then that my sophomore pharmacology professors started whispering in my ear,” she says. “A slide from a lecture years ago reminded me of an important yet slight detail that predisposed my patient to an allergic reaction to her medications.” 

The woman’s symptoms were quickly addressed and resolved. Similar knowledge, skills, and leadership — a hallmark of School of Nursing graduates — will soon be imparted to even more students as the school doubles undergraduate enrollment; trains students in its renovated simulation lab; and launches a nursing doctoral program.

Undergraduate admissions will increase gradually over the next three years, ultimately admitting 200 a year. Why? Demand. Some 1.1 million more nurses will be needed over the next seven years, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects. 

“Our faculty recognizes the need to educate and graduate more clinically competent nurses who can think critically, adapt, and be impactful, strong leaders,” says Pamela Karagory, clinical associate professor and undergraduate program director. “Nursing is a complex profession, and ours is a rigorous and comprehensive program. This, along with the PhD, elevates the School of Nursing to an impactful, national school.”

The $1.2 million renovation of the Center for Nursing Education and Simulation in Johnson Hall expands learning in a realistic setting. Equipped with static manikins and several high-tech simulators with voice, heart, lung, and bowel sounds, pulses, and programmable vital signs, the lab helps students learn to diagnose, make decisions, delegate, and communicate. 

Video recordings also can be made for follow-up learning.  Senior Nicole Kistler, Fishers, Indiana, appreciates experiencing multiple hands-on simulations at once. 

“It is a great opportunity to see patient diagnoses within each body system that relate to what we are learning in lecture. And it allows us to see different outcomes in patients with similar signs and symptoms.”

The doctor of philosophy in nursing program — only the second in Indiana — begins this fall after three years of preparation, says Karen Foli, director of the PhD in Nursing Program. “We started with a whiteboard and some markers and looked at what we wanted the program to be.”

Plans are to recruit six full-time students and one to three part-time students each year, with 25 to 30 ultimately on track to earn a PhD. Initial research areas include healthcare delivery, chronic care delivery, wellness promotion, and nursing education. Thirteen faculty, with one or two more to be added, will advise doctoral students.

The school has received Future of Nursing Scholars funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for two scholars over the next three years. 

“This expansion speaks to need, and the faculty are so behind it,” Foli says. “We decided on a nursing-centric, transdisciplinary model — an opportunity to forge nontraditional partnerships.”

A doctoral student might research obesity paired with nutrition science or pedagogy paired with education, she suggests. “The combinations are endless.”