BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Two nursing instructors at Starke’s North Florida Technical College told a Lake Region civic group that their program is ranked 6th out of more than 160 practical nursing programs in Florida.
The rankings by NursingProcess.org took academic quality, first-time pass rates for the state licensing exam, and affordability into account when ranking the schools.
Becky McCord and Lynn Dickinson told the Keystone Heights Rotary Club that 100% of their LPN program graduates and nursing assistant students passed first-time licensure exams over the past two years.
McCord administers the program and is the lead instructor. She was named this year’s teacher of the year at the college. Dickinson is the primary instructor for the full-time and part-time programs at the Orange Street campus and was the school’s teacher of the year for 2022-2023.
Dickinson said first-time pass rates are important because the state uses them to evaluate nursing programs in Florida.
“They look at that pass rate,” she said, “and we are always looking at it, making sure that we have what we need because we have to maintain our licensure for the Florida Board of Nursing to continue to educate students.”
Full-time and part-time
McCord said the college offers both full-time and part-time programs. Full-time students are in class or in clinics Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., beginning in August and ending in June.
“You can be at LPN in 10 months and come out making close to $30 an hour,” she said. “That is what they’re getting paid these days. There’s a high demand for LPNs.”
McCord said part-time students meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 18 months.
“Usually, they do clinics on Tuesdays and come to class on Thursdays,” McCord added. This is more for working people who have a full-time job.”
The program administrator said the two programs’ combined enrollment of 24 students is higher than larger schools in the area.
Enrollment down across the state
“Enrollment is down in general across Florida,” she said. “It’s like there’s not a lot of interest in becoming a nurse these days.”
Dickinson traced the enrollment drop to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“With all the media and all the stress and the bombardment that nurses had,” she said, “I think a lot of nurses left the field, and then that stigma is maybe tied to that. So, a lot of people don’t want to go into nursing for that reason. But we still have a very high enrollment compared to many of our area colleges, and they’re even bigger than we are. And nobody has our 100% pass rate, so we’re very grateful for the work we put into that.”
Dickinson added that her and McCord’s focus on developing relationships with students is a significant factor in their success.
“Because we are a smaller college,” she said, “even though we have a higher enrollment compared to other schools, we have that one-on-one relationship with our students, and I think that gives the students the buy-in to our program and our curriculum and they will work really hard for us.”
She added that McCord often tutors students in the math necessary to calculate drug dosages, while Dickinson customizes materials to fit a pupil’s learning style.
“Maybe Jeopardy-type games and things like that that they can play that prep them with questions for the test,” she said. “A lot of them will be at a local clinic or health facility doing their clinical work, and they’ll ask if they can come on their lunch break. So, they’ll come over on their lunch break and sit with me for an hour.”
Holistic approach to care and teaching
Dickinson said that just like her students learn to care for patients holistically, she and McCord look out for their students’ emotional, social, mental health, and physical needs.
“We approach teaching and our students in that holistic way because if a student didn’t sleep the night before or was up all night because their dog was bit by a rattlesnake and was having seizures, and this is a true story, we have to understand that we can’t expect that student to perform well the next day if they’re sleepy.”
The pair said that at the beginning of the current school year, one of their student’s house burned down. McCord and Dickinson responded by organizing a chicken-and-rice fundraiser for the student that raised around $1,000.
Dickinson also said most graduates find jobs in the local area, either at the Northeast Florida State Hospital in Macclenny, nursing homes in Starke, the Florida Department of Health in Lake Butler and Starke, the Department of Corrections, or with providers or hospitals based in Gainesville.
