RPN Bridging to University Nursing Serves As a Steppingstone

Are you a registered practical nurse who has a diploma from a community college of applied arts and technology (CAAT) with a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher and containing no repeated courses or failures on your academic transcript? Can you provide proof of current certificate of registration in Ontario? Do you have transcripts from a community college diploma program (indicating minimum B average and inclusion of courses in Anatomy and Physiology and Pathophysiology)? Are you interested in obtaining a BScN in approximately three years? If you answered ‘yes’ to these questions, Centennial College may have the program for you.

The registered practical nursing program RPN Bridging to University Nursing, offers registered practical nurses the opportunity to obtain a Graduate Certificate in two semesters before applying to the post-diploma nursing degree program at Ryerson University, offered by the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing and the Chang School of Continuing Education. The certificate that is earned at Centennial provides evidence of reflective practice, employment and continuing education opportunities.

At Centennial College, students study from a curriculum based on the College of Nurses’ Standards of Practice for Nursing and Entry to Practice Competencies for Ontario Registered Nurses. As such, they complete courses that include: Health Assessment, Acute and Chronic Illness Theory, Pathotherapeutics, Family-Centered Nursing Theory, Mental Health Nursing Practice, Nursing Research, Nursing Knowledge: Historical and Futuristic Perspectives and many others.

Throughout the program, students make use of Centennial College’s Morningside Campus, which houses The School of Community and Health Studies. The campus offers mock clinical settings that are outfitted with simulated dummies on which students practice. Opportunities exist to develop communication and leadership skills at an advanced level. These skills are applied in labs and clinical practice. This clinical practice takes place during a placement that allows students to develop employment networking opportunities. Individual clinical feedback and evaluation gives employers valuable evidence of current and safe clinical practice.

It is worth noting that students learn from faculty members who are knowledgeable, experienced and caring, and employ evidence based practices through the delivery of the program while, at the same time, supporting the needs of adult and English-as-a-second-language students.

As graduates of the one the respected Practical nursing programs in Toronto, students who choose not to pursue further education enter a field that the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) predicts that if the current trends in the nursing workforce continues, there will be a shortage of 113,000 Registered Nurses (RNs) by 2016 in Canada (CNA, 2009). Graduates work with persons and communities of diverse backgrounds, ages, degrees of health and illness, in a variety of contexts.