Alverno College Marches Steadily Toward First DEMSN Cohort

"Can you think of a time when a nurse impacted your life?” This question will soon be posed to prospective nursing students at Alverno College’s new nursing education center in Mesa, Ariz. Having opened the center in March, Alverno continues to progress steadily toward its first semester in the new facility, and on Wednesday, June 22, the center will hold its first open house, an event of significance, not just for Alverno College, but for the city of Mesa and the state of Arizona as well.

According to data from Maricopa County, which includes Mesa, there was a 40% increase in the number of nursing vacancies from April 2020 to April 2021. More recently, a January 2022 report in Becker’s Hospital Review, a publication devoted to health care news and analysis, placed Arizona eighth in the nation for the percent of hospitals in the state with critical staffing shortages. Both are indications that the dire need for nurses continues, a condition that influenced Alverno’s decision to expand its Direct Entry Master of Science in Nursing program from its home campus in Milwaukee to its new nursing education center in Mesa.

“I’ve always believed that nurses are the linchpin of any health care team,” said center director Linda Shanta, Ph.D., RN, ANEF. “Alverno’s DEMSN program offers people educated in other disciplines who wish to become nurses an expedited way to become highly educated nurses who are prepared to lead change in health care.”

Well-known for the caliber of its nursing students, Alverno’s DEMSN is the only program in the Mesa area to award graduates both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in nursing. The 18- to 20-month, full-time program is designed for students who already hold a bachelor’s degree in a non-nursing field and will prepare them to sit for the NCLEX-RN licensing exam.

“Thanks to our state-of-the-art simulation lab and the high caliber of our faculty and staff, our nurses will gain the clinical judgement and skills necessary to make an immediate impact and be well situated to continue their education and career advancement in nursing and health care,” added Shanta.

As a graduate level program, the DEMSN also affords students access to graduate-level financial aid, a benefit that can remove the financial barriers often associated with advanced degrees. Most of all, a degree in nursing at this particular point in time affords access to jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the employment of registered nurses to grow 9% from 2020 to 2030, and as of May 2021, the median pay for the profession was $77,600 per year, more than 40% higher than the median annual wage for all workers.

At full capacity, Alverno’s Mesa location will enroll more than 200 students annually, and the college is already forging impressive clinical relationships with Banner Health, the Mayo Clinic, Friendship Village and other health care organizations throughout Arizona.

For more information about the Direct Entry Master of Science of Nursing or to submit an application, please visit the program’s website.