UTEP Undergraduate Nursing Program Levels Up for Fall
UTEP Undergraduate Nursing Program Levels Up for Fall
The University of Texas at El Paso’s undergraduate nursing program has undergone a shift in a bid to better prepare students for the college’s rigorous curriculum, while fostering a sense of community, cooperation and care.
The new curriculum, implemented in Fall 2024, does away with the phases and the ranking system of the traditional nursing program, and introduces nursing classes earlier in the curriculum. UTEP’s School of Nursing is one of the first in the nation to make this change.
Leslie K. Robbins, Ph.D., dean of the UTEP College of Nursing, welcomes the change, noting that it will have a profound positive impact on the level of healthcare in the community.
“If 300 people all decide to be a nurse and they do everything they need to do, then we'll have a huge class,” she said. “We've talked to the agencies in town, and they have all said that they will support us in this, because they want more nurses to be graduating.”
The traditional nursing program was made up of three phases. Phase one required potential nursing students to take certain prerequisites before applying to the second phase. Applicants were ranked and the top-ranked students were invited to start the second phase in a limited number of spots. After successfully completing the requirements in phase two, including three nursing courses, students had to apply and be ranked again to move on to phase three to complete the degree program.
Students who started the nursing program prior to fall 2024 can choose whether to stay on their current track or move to the new plan.
One of the reasons for the change hinged on federal funding for nursing programs, which would be withheld if students lose their place due to ranking rather than achieving milestones.
Robbins said the most important thing to note is that the standards of the curriculum did not change. The Board of Nursing requires a pass rate of at least 80%, which UTEP’s BSN students far exceed at 94%.
“It is still as rigorous a program as it was when it was delivered in the previous format,” Robbins said. “The faculty has a high pass rate. It speaks so highly for them and all of the work that they do for our students.”
Although the rigor of the curriculum is unchanged, the culture of the program has been transformed. Future nurses can now focus fully on patient care and collaboration with their colleagues rather than solely on making the cut.
“It’s taken some of the competitiveness away from what we used to have as a ranking process,” said Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Laura Rodriguez, DNP. “[You’re] not ranking against others anymore; you're basically in competition with yourself. If we're expecting nurses to get out into the work environment and function as a team player, then the whole competitive process of the ranking is counterproductive to that.”
Rodriguez explained that when students didn’t do well, they had to retake non-nursing classes to stay competitive with their GPAs, eventually exhausting their financial aid, and causing increased stress. Furthermore, the program structure did not allow students to realize whether or not nursing was a good fit until later in their studies.
Robbins is excited about the changes and the effect those changes will have on students now and later in their nursing careers.
“The hope is that groups will be supportive of each other, which means when they graduate, they should be able to move into a team-like environment in the hospital much easier,” Robbins said.
