December 11th, 2009

Reports the Times-Leader:

Wilkes University will become the 101st school in the nation – and the first in Northeastern Pennsylvania – to offer a doctor of nursing practice degree. School officials made the announcement Thursday.

There are more than 600 nursing programs in the United States, but less than 17 percent offer this particular degree. In Pennsylvania, only the University of Pittsburgh, and Chatham, Robert Morris, Drexel, Waynesburg and Thomas Jefferson universities have the degree program. It’s geared toward advanced practice nurses such as nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists and nurse midwives.

The college will begin the program next summer through its Nesbitt College of Pharmacy and Nursing and it will be offered solely online. A one-week long residency will be required to complete the program, according to Mary Ann Merrigan, chairwoman of the college’s nursing department. Wilkes will offer three concentrations of study: gerontology, nursing management and psychiatric/mental health.

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