Anatomy of the
Nursing Program
Story: Jim Berger, Photography: Liz Palmer
After nearly eighteen months of planning, Saint Vincent College will welcome its inaugural cohort into its Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program when the fall semester begins in August.
The Saint Vincent BSN program officially received approval by the Pennsylvania Board of Nursing in November 2023. It will provide students with a thorough classroom and practical education, while immersing them in the College’s classic Benedictine, liberal arts and sciences curriculum.
“Saint Vincent nurses will be educated with three distinct concepts threaded throughout the curriculum,” said Dr. Helen Burns, the Rev. Owen Roth, O.S.B., Inaugural Director of Nursing. “First, they will be educated as professionals. Second, as clinicians. And third, as leaders, regardless of any role that they accept. Saint Vincent nurses will be prepared to work in any healthcare setting.”
Burns was appointed to her role at Saint Vincent College after a distinguished nursing career, culminating with her position as senior vice president and chief nursing officer for Excela Health (now Independence Health). A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, she has also served as deputy secretary for health planning and assessment for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
With extensive experience in nursing education, Burns previously served as associate dean for clinical education in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Nursing and as a member of the US Department Health and Human Services’ National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, and she was excited to have the opportunity to spearhead the creation of the new program at Saint Vincent College.
“IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE A LEGACY. EVERY STUDENT WHO WILL BE EDUCATED THROUGH THIS PROGRAM IS GOING TO GO OUT AND TOUCH THOUSANDS OF LIVES.”
Dr. Burns in discussion with Saint Vincent College nursing students.
“It is an opportunity to create a legacy,” she remarked. “Every student who will be educated through this program is going to go out and touch thousands of lives.”
BSN students will follow a rigorous, 124-credit curriculum spanning a multitude of disciplines, with the Saint Vincent College core curriculum providing the foundation. Students will also be required to enroll in science, math, informatics, ethics, and humanities courses. The nursing-specific and medical specialty courses, taught by highly qualified nursing professionals and educators, will include more than 1,000 clinical hours.
“We will have an interdisciplinary approach to education,” explained Burns. “The education of Saint Vincent nurses is going to be built on the foundation of Catholic tradition and the Benedictine Hallmarks, along with evidence-based practice.”
While this is the first time that Saint Vincent College will be offering its own BSN program, there have been nursing students on campus since 2019, when a satellite partnership with Carlow University was launched that enabled SVC students to earn a BSN from the Carlow School of Nursing. The collaborative partnership has resulted in more than forty students successfully earning a BSN conferred by Carlow, which has assured the continuation of the partnership to graduate all students currently enrolled in that program.
“The transition has gone well, and we are supporting each other,” said Burns. “We are supportive of Carlow in graduating the current students enrolled in its BSN program, and Carlow is supportive of Saint Vincent as we are building and implementing our own program.”
Throughout the Carlow partnership, the bulk of the nursing-specific courses have been held in the James F. Will Engineering and Biomedical Sciences Hall in the Sis and Herman Dupré Science Pavilion. The facility has received a wealth of additions and upgrades over the past four years, including a state-of-the-art nursing simulation lab with authentic equipment aimed at replicating clinical experiences and the Ralph H. Liberatore Human Anatomy Suite, a large laboratory space designed for cadaveric medical training sessions highlighted by the Anatomage Table, which is a computerized, three-dimensional cadaver model that allows students to visualize anatomy exactly as they would on a fresh cadaver.
When Saint Vincent College’s BSN program launches this fall, its students will utilize these facilities in Will Hall, but only on a temporary basis, as construction is slated to begin in February on Rhodora and John Donahue Hall. The three-story structure, which is to be located alongside the Dupré Pavilion, will house the David Scaife Family Center for Excellence and Innovation in Nursing. The Center will feature a nursing skills lab, a virtual reality suite, simulation labs, a telehealth suite, conference rooms, and classrooms to support the nursing curriculum.
“It will continue to connect nursing with science. It’s going to be technologically intensive and will provide our future generation of nurses with invaluable resources.
“We really are on a path to creating a premiere nursing program.”