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Prompted by the World Health Organization initiative to have 80% of nurses possess a bachelor’s degree by 2020, in fall 2020, Salish Kootenai College will become the first tribal college to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). Located in Montana, Salish Kootenai College serves the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, a federally recognized tribe.

A major consideration in making this transition, according to nursing program director Lisa Harmon, is that a BSN is swiftly becoming an entry-level requirement for nurses. Harmon notes that a BSN will also open up more opportunities for graduating students, as both privately owned facilities as well as federal agencies such as the Indian Health Services (IHS) require a bachelor’s degree from all nursing applicants. For graduates of the Salish Kootenai program, which is designed to prepare Native American nurses for professional practice and leadership in rural and tribal communities, the prospect of working for the IHS is a particularly strong consideration as students often choose to work within their home reservation, where IHS is a significant source of nursing opportunities.

Harmon says, “We want to be doing the right thing for our Native American graduate nurses and have them be able to work in these IHS facilities. Or wherever anybody wants to go, it just gives so much more employment opportunity.”

While the college offers an “RN to BSN” option, Harmon notes that many federal programs will only subsidize a first degree, and adds, “As the student loan crisis ramps up, which yes the United States has a student loan crisis, there’s just more restrictions. And (the RN to BSN program) just wasn’t doing our students any good. So then they couldn’t finish their bachelor’s because they didn’t qualify anymore for student loans. Now we are offering this four-year degree which will be better all around, for financial aid and scholarships.”

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Of the new BSN program, which is two years in the making, Harmon remarks, “We are just excited that we are offering what students need,” Harmon said. “We’ll be the first tribal college in the United States to offer this four-year BSN. I feel really good about it. I feel like it’s the right thing to do.”

For more details on the Salish Kootenai College BSN, program, visit here .

Koren Thomas
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