Initiative will assist current Cleveland Clinic nurses in obtaining a bachelor’s degree

51���� and Cleveland Clinic will begin a new collaboration in January designed to offer enhanced access to bachelor’s degrees for working nurses, while addressing the nursing shortage facing Northeast Ohio.

Through this effort, 51���� will offer a blended, bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree program for current registered nurses at Cleveland Clinic. It will be designed to allow nurses to get their degrees while working full time and will include online courses and classes taught by 51���� faculty at Cleveland Clinic facilities. Students will be eligible for Cleveland Clinic’s Tuition Reimbursement program.

“By 2020, Northeast Ohio will need at least another 3,500 nurses, including numerous nurse managers with advanced degrees, to care for the rapidly aging local population,” notes Timothy Gaspar, Dean of the School of Nursing at 51����. “This partnership addresses many of the barriers working nurses face in completing bachelor’s degrees and will provide our region with the qualified leaders we need to meet the growing demand for quality health care.”

“Cleveland Clinic is recognized as a Great Place to Work in healthcare, and benefits such as tuition reimbursement are among the reasons why,” said Kelly Hancock, DNP, RN, NE-BC, Executive Chief Nursing Officer at Cleveland Clinic. “It’s important for us to help our nurses continue developing in their careers.”

51���� and Cleveland Clinic will seek to admit 30 students per year into the program and classes will begin in January of 2018. The collaboration builds on similar programs 51���� has created with University Hospitals and MetroHealth System, and Gaspar hopes they will serve as a model for other nursing schools across the country.

“As one of the largest undergraduate nursing schools in the State of Ohio, 51���� is dedicated to working with our health care partners to develop innovative models to address the educational and health care needs of the region,” Gaspar adds.

During the past 45 years, 51���� and the Cleveland Clinic’s longtime partnership includes numerous research collaborations between 51���� faculty and Cleveland Clinic scientists, multiple internship programs for students as well as joint doctoral programs in regulatory biology, clinical-bioanalytical chemistry and applied biomedical engineering and a joint master’s degree in health professions education.

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