Mercy Health Love County - News

Education Fever Strikes Nursing Department

Posted on Friday, February 5th, 2016

Educated Nurses: Jennifer Hicks, RN, left, is working on a
master's degree in nursing from Oklahoma City University,
while Marie Ross, RN, earned recognition as "star student"
from the Kramer School of Nursing at OCU in 2015.

Education fever has struck the nursing department of Mercy Health/Love County Hospital. The study bug is pleasingly contagious.

Since 2014, one after another Registered Nurse from a two-year program has elevated her credentials with a four-year bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree from Oklahoma City University's Kramer School of Nursing.

Diana Delgado, Jennifer Hicks, and Marie Ross already have graduated. Sheila Nipp and Megan Yow are currently enrolled.

After graduating from OCU in 2014, Hicks decided a bachelor's degree was not enough. She is now immersed in master's degree studies with an eye on becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner.

Ross, director of nursing, won the Star Student Award among her 250 classmates in the 2015 graduation ceremony on the OCU campus in Oklahoma City last December.

Chosen by the faculty, star students goes to the student who has many responsibilities outside of school yet continues to make excellent progress toward the goal of finishing a degree in nursing.

All the Marietta RNs remained on fulltime schedules at the hospital while they went to college.

Thanks to a favorable arrangement put together by OCU, Marietta's working nurses take classes from OCU nursing professors one afternoon a week at a satellite nursing campus set up at Mercy Hospital Ardmore. Additinal coursework is completed online over two semesters.

The nurses are eligible for scholarships from the Love County Health Center Foundation to help pay for their schooling. Among other contributions, foundation funds are used to strengthen the academic and clinical preparedness of hospital workers.

The Love County Health Center Foundation was organized as a gift trust of the Brannan brothers, W.R. "Bill" (and wife Bette), and J. Claude (and wife Jane) in 1973, shortly after the hospital opened.

In the OCU program, the nurses sharpen their health assessment skills and delve deeper into nursing theory, reserach, and written and oral communicatins than in a two-year curriculum.

Increasingly, the nursing profession is requiring a minimum of a bachelor's degree to hold certain RN positions or advance in the field.

"Even as an RN, this year I would need to have a BSN or be working toward one to continue as a school nurse," said Sheila Nipp. Nipp is in her fifth year as the hospital's traveling nurse to Love County's four school district.

"I'm only three weeks into the program and I can already see it is going to give me skills for public speaking and classroom presentations," Nipp said. "I've gained new insights for performing health assessments of the children that make me better able to recognize certain physical signs of illness."

"Im thrilled and excited to be in the program. It's tough. It involves late nights and weekends of study. But it's a blessing, and I'm forever grateful to have this opportunity," Nipp said, echoing the response from the other four nurses.

Diana Delgado has been on a study spree throughout her young career. In the space of three years, she has progressed from certified nurse's aide to RN (thanks to a two-year nursing program at Murray State College) to BSN.

"I'm using what I learned on the nursing floor daily. Studying for the bacehlor's degree was a really good experience. The BSN will open more doors for me in the future," Delgado said.

Megan Yow enrolled this year in the bachelor's degree program after hearing other nurses discuss their experiences. "I was influenced by Marie Ross. After all her years in a leadership position, if she is going back for more education, then I should be so dedicated as well," Yow said.