As the new nursing facility goes up at Sowela Technical Community College, a career path for soon-to-be nurses has already won an award for being cutting edge. And it will most likely be put in place at the college, a school official said.

The curriculum is for the Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) degree program. Created by Paula Hellums, chair of Sowela’s nursing department, it was a part of her recently completed Master of Science degree in nursing from McNeese State University.

Hellums’ curriculum plan was recently praised as the Best Scholarly Project of her graduating class. Its usage is pending approval by the state Board of Regents and the Louisiana State Board of Nursing.

The ASN program includes concurrent enrollment with McNeese’s nursing programs to permit the acceleration of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree from McNeese for an ASN-RN graduate of Sowela. Thus, students could graduate from Sowela with an associate’s degree in nursing and enter the health care field, she said. The other option is to continue his or her studies at McNeese for the completion of a four-year degree because they will have already taken some of the BSN coursework, Hellums said.

“This was a unique opportunity to build upon the shared vision and growing partnership by crafting a proposed curriculum that will provide a specific road map for students wishing to take BSN courses while completing the ASN program of study,” Hellums said.

The curriculum for the ASN program would be enacted once Sowela earns accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The college expects to acheive the accrediation in 2014, Hellums said.

The timing would synchronize with the construction of the $7.3 million Allied Health and Nursing Building that will allow three times the existing space for the college’s expanding nursing programs. The 35,000-square-foot building will have more instructional technology and additional lecture and lab space.

Hellums said the new facility “will enhance instruction and allow for the expansion of programmatic offerings” like the Associate of Science in Nursing.

Assisted by a tuition discount program for Sowela employees, Hellums enrolled at McNeese and her scholarly project was the development of a curriculum for the ASN program to come to Sowela after the campus earns SACS accreditation.

“Paula is a rising star at Sowela; we are blessed to have her leading our nursing programs and driving innovation in collaboration with our colleagues at McNeese.” Dr. Rick Bateman Jr., vice chancellor for academic affairs and student success at Sowela, said in an email.

After obtaining the necessary approvals in 2013-14, a required transition period in 2015-16 would be ahead of implementation of the program.

“The graduate faculty in the College of Nursing at MSU chose her project for the Spring 2013 Scholarly Project Award given to honor the project that best exemplified scholarly endeavor by a graduate nursing student,” Dr. Ann Warner, co-coordinator of the graduate nursing program, said in an email. “The reason it is so important to design nursing curricula that encourage nurses to continue their education is because there will continue to be an increasing demand for registered nurses for at least the next decade.”

Students would be accepted under the new curriculum program in 2016.

(Rick Hickman / American Press)