Nursing Expansion Brings MEPN Program to Gilbert Campus
Move consolidates master’s and bachelor’s programs available to students in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The College of Nursing’s Master of Science in Nursing – Entry to the Profession (MEPN) program is moving to the University Building in Gilbert in the fall. The MEPN program retrains students with university degrees in other fields to become nurses while simultaneously earning a master’s degree.
MEPN is on the move.
The University of Arizona College of Nursing’s Master of Science in Nursing – Entry to the Profession (MEPN) program is moving from the Phoenix Biomedical Campus to the University Building in Gilbert next fall. The MEPN program retrains students with university degrees in other fields to become nurses while simultaneously earning a master’s degree.
College of Nursing Dean Ki Moore, PhD, RN, FAAN
The Gilbert campus includes a nursing simulation suite, which utilizes state-of-the-art technology to train future nurses in a realistic clinical setting.
The move will significantly increase the occupancy of the College of Nursing’s programs in Gilbert, where the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Integrative Health Care (BSN-IH) program already resides. Since its launch in Gilbert in November 2019, the BSN-IH program has nearly tripled in size from 24 to 72 students per cohort. The most recent class graduated with the college’s convocation in Tucson on Dec. 16.
“It is anticipated that by 2030, there will be a shortage of almost a million nurses across the country, and the University of Arizona College of Nursing is dedicated to reducing the effects of this shortage in our state,” said College of Nursing Dean Ki Moore, PhD, RN, FAAN. “We are excited to expand upon our partnership with the Town of Gilbert to bring our MEPN program to the area so it can join our already successful BSN-IH in the same building. Both programs will help educate and train new generations of Wildcat nurses, who are desperately needed in communities across Arizona due to an ongoing nursing shortage.”
The University Building is equipped with an eight-bed skills lab and a nursing simulation suite designed to replicate a hospital patient-care setting, which was a major factor in the College of Nursing’s decision to expand in Gilbert. The College of Nursing has invested more than $300,000 to update the third floor of the University Building with speaker systems, technical infrastructure and state-of-the-art simulation equipment.
“We are excited to expand upon our partnership with the Town of Gilbert to bring our MEPN program to the area so it can join our already successful BSN-IH in the same building.”Ki Moore, PhD, RN, FAAN
"We are proud of the success that the University of Arizona's nursing program has had at their Gilbert campus and are thrilled to support the expansion of this master's program," said Gilbert Mayor Brigette Peterson. “Education is a pillar of any strong community, and it’s a sign of progress that Gilbert is able to continue to offer higher education programs while contributing to the training of nurses who are sorely needed today, tomorrow and into the future.”
More than 240 BSN-IH students are currently studying in Gilbert, with that number expected to quickly reach the program’s limit of 288 students. Including the Tucson and Gilbert campuses, approximately 130 students are expected to enroll in the MEPN program each year.
When the college announced in February 2019 the integrative heath degree program that blended conventional health care with complementary approaches to mind-body-spirit well-being, it was headquartered in Gilbert. With the addition of the MEPN program, all of the college’s Phoenix-based classes will be in Gilbert.
A blend of online and traditional classroom learning, the four-semester, upper-level BSN-IH program differs from the conventional BSN pathway in that it focuses on integrative health and well-being assessment and promotion. Offering an alternative to traditional biomedical and pharmacological options, integrative health promotes a healing-oriented, whole-person approach to health care. Conditions are clinically treated through a variety of methods, including lifestyle enhancement, nutrition and appropriate biomedical therapies.
The BSN-IH program is the logical next step for the college’s focus on integrative health, which has developed strong academic and community ties through its landmark integrative nursing fellowship and its partnership with The Hacienda at the River, a senior residential community in Tucson.