Copper Mountain College urges BRN to create remediation pathway for nursing program directors

Copper Mountain College President Darren Otten told the Nursing Education and Workforce Advisory Committee on June 25 that his rural college struggled to hire a qualified nursing program director under current Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) rules and is asking the BRN to create a remediation pathway for districts that must hire outside their internal faculty pool.

Otten said his college had a candidate who “fit well for our program” but who did not meet certain BRN qualifications. He asked the BRN to consider ways for districts — particularly small or rural community colleges with very small applicant pools — to submit remediation plans or alternate training so that capable candidates can be approved to supervise programs: “When the BRN expresses concern about a specific candidate, we should be able to submit a proposal to address the deficiencies… and create a pathway so that we can hire the people that ultimately are interested in being in our places.”

Why this matters: rural and small…