In 2012, Shenandoah University’s nursing programs enjoy a reputation for nursing excellence acknowledged by peer institutions and nationally ranked health systems. However, back in 1962, the university’s nursing program was just in its infancy. In James R. Wilkins, Sr.’s history of Shenandoah, “The Impossible Task,” he described how the university’s (then Shenandoah College and Shenandoah Conservatory of Music) board of trustees chose to further a commitment to the community by organizing an Allied Health Department in cooperation with the Winchester Memorial Hospital. After much discussion and the weighing of pros and cons, the shortage of nurses and technicians to staff three shifts at the hospital eventually swayed the hospital board to create an affiliate program with the college. The hospital’s program graduated approximately five nurses a year, yet many more were needed to staff its growing workforce. The agreed-upon plan transferred the hospital’s nursing program to Shenandoah. Classes were held in Racey and Cooley Halls, with the hospital providing locations for clinical experiences and on the-job training several days each week.
Students who graduated from this program earned an Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) degree. The hospital offered full scholarships to those candidates who signed contracts to work for two-and-a-half years after completing the program and passing their state boards.
As a result, Shenandoah became one of only four institutions in Virginia with a nursing program. The program was so well-designed, other hospitals and institutions began offering scholarships to Shenandoah students if they would commit to work for their organizations after completing their degrees.
On May 28, 1964, Shenandoah’s first nursing class graduated with four students, who then completed a six-week internship at the Winchester Memorial Hospital. By 1965, the program graduated 13 students and continued to grow. (Twenty years later, approximately 50 students would graduate each year with an average pass rate on the state boards of 98 percent.) In 1967, the Virginia State Board of Nursing and the National League for Nursing fully accredited the program.
New Programs Emerge
As the years progressed, Shenandoah developed new facilities to house its growing nursing program. During the years between 1975 to 1999, the nursing program moved from Racey and Cooley Halls on campus to the Old John Kerr Building in downtown Winchester (now home to the Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy).
In 1990, Shenandoah and Lord Fairfax Community College entered into a joint Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) to Associate of Science (ASN) degree program. The following year, George Mason University and Shenandoah signed a cooperative contract for the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program, setting the stage for future cooperative partnerships. The ongoing collaboration with the Winchester Medical Center provided students with opportunities for part-time employment as well as valuable hands-on experiences.
By 1988, the faculty numbered 11 full-time and four part-time professors. In 1990, Shenandoah pursued National League for Nursing (NLN) accreditation for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree and established an advisory committee to plan for a master’s program. By 1995, combined enrollment was at 250 for the ASN and BSN programs, and the following year, the Division of Nursing moved out of the John Kerr School and into the newly constructed Health Professions Building on the campus of the Winchester Medical Center.
Soon, new faculty members with advanced-care specialties and a Center for Parish Nursing were added along with new offerings in family nurse practitioner, nurse-midwifery, adult nursing, pharmacology, psychiatric mental-health and case management. These specialties set the tone for a cutting-edge academic future.
In the year 2000, preparations for Y2K were ongoing, but by 2001, the 9/11 disaster changed American thinking. Shenandoah offered several courses to train nurses in disaster relief as well as in emerging areas of heath care. The BSN program was approved by the Virginia State Board, a ‘scantron’ was put into operation for scoring standardized tests and the Honor Society of Nursing began its annual Research Day. The Society also met the requirements to apply for a chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the international nursing honor society. Enrollment continued to increase in the nursing division.
Time brought endings as well as beginnings. As the faculty looked to the future of nursing education, it decided to discontinue the ASN program. From 1960 to 2001, more than 1,000 nurses had graduated from the two-year program and were practicing in clinical settings throughout the region and around the world. Still, the profession of nursing moved forward, predicting that the BSN would become the preferred entry-level program in the future.
The Gladys T. Quarles Learning Laboratory for Nursing opened in 2001, providing students with state-of-the-art, digitally controlled simulation mannequin technology. This unique lab allowed students to work with professors and each other to practice procedures and make clinical decisions within a safe environment. In addition, undergraduate students participated in real-world practice under the tutelage of experienced clinical preceptors. Today, there are more than 250 affiliated clinical placement locations at various sites—urban and rural, hospital and small office—where students can practice their skills.
Dean of Shenandoah University’s Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing Director Kathryn Ganske, Ph.D., RN, cited the relationships with such prestigious regional systems as Valley Health, Inova Health System and the Martinsburg VA Medical Center as wonderful clinical settings for nursing students. Other nursing highlights included three million dollars in grant funding from federal and private sources since 2007, and a very successful accelerated, second-degree nursing program, offered at the Northern Virginia Campus, for students who hold degrees in other disciplines, but who always wanted to become nurses.
Looking to the Future
The world of nursing has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. Gone are the glass I-V bottles, glass syringes with reusable needles, six-patient wards and the all-white uniforms. Technology, changing population demographics and new legislation—particularly in the past few years—has brought dynamic and visionary new routes to advanced and specialized nurse preparation.
A 2010 report by the Institute of Medicine lists nurses as the largest segment of the nation’s health-care workforce, with more than three million nurses working on the front lines of patient care. When the 2010 Affordable Care Act was enacted—the broadest change made since Medicare and Medicaid—nurse educators reacted in positive ways to prepare graduates to lead these changes and advance health care education.
“Nurses have long played a vital part of medical care,” said Dr. Ganske. “Once they were seen as little more than assistants; they were helpers handing the doctor a tool in the operating room or administering prescribed drugs. Today, as important members of the health-care team, nurses enjoy collaborative partnerships with physicians, communicating vital information about patients, providing input into treatment plans and making independent decisions about the patients in their care.
“This is due to the more rigorous education and training standards resulting in more advanced degrees, with the BSN serving as the entry-level degree for a career,” said Ganske. “Nursing is poised to move into an era of health care for people who are living longer (baby boomers are aging) and often living with chronic diseases,” said Ganske.”
Now with 50 years of history, Shenandoah’s Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing is poised for the future.
“Shenandoah University’s nursing program is based on the strongest nursing qualities of integrity, caring, curiosity and intelligence,” said Ganske. “Nursing students will always need updated labs, and the capacity for expansion and continued growth of the clinical preceptor program, where nurses can serve as team leaders in the real world of medicine.”
Preparing nurses for future practice is the goal. Graduates will care for patients in a variety of settings–acute care, outpatient and community practice—some rural, some small town and some urban. They will find employment in rehabilitation centers, occupational health, public schools, parishes, clinics or hospice care. The many programs offered at the bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral levels emphasize holistic health, wellness, leadership, ethics, care management and disaster preparedness. Shenandoah is also training highly skilled and much-needed nurse educators.
“We are ready for the future,” said Ganske. “Not only is there a need for individuals with their bachelors’ degrees, but also for advanced practice credentials, including the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), post-master’s certificates and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).”
Shenandoah Alumni & Faculty – Remember 50 Years of Nursing
No matter your age, you likely know something about the 1960s: The Beatles, President Kennedy’s assassination, the Six-Day War, the Civil Rights Act, Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon and the Vietnam War. It was in the midst of this tumultuous time that Shenandoah’s first graduating class of nurses completed their studies and began their professional careers.
At that time, nurses wore white uniforms with starched caps, pins, capes, white hose and shoes. In 1966, alumna Ellen Hammack Yoder received her associate’s degree and later returned for an MBA. She recalls the small building on Stewart Street (the ‘old’ hospital), where nurses performed their clinical rotations.
“Now, can you believe nurses are wearing colored scrubs instead of all white uniforms with caps?” said Yoder. She noted that handwriting was much more important then. She fondly recalls the cooperative relationships between the university and the community, as well as riding on Shenandoah’s float in the 1965 and 1966 Apple Blossom parades.
Nursing Alumna Cheryl Gearhart ’74, ASN, said technology plays a much larger role today in the preparation and practice of nursing. “What has not changed,” Gearhart noted, “is our love and compassion for people that led us down the career path of nursing.”
Helen Zebarth, BSN, M.Ed., FCN, served as a full-time professor at Shenandoah University for 25 years and director of the Wellness Center until her retirement from that position in June 2004. Since then, she has served as an adjunct professor, teaching two courses a semester. Zebarth considers “going from an ASN program to a BSN and now to advanced degrees” as major milestones.
“It was exciting when the nursing program moved first from the basement of Cooley to the John Kerr building, and then later into the Health Professions Building,” said Zebarth. “Those moves made a powerful and positive effect on the students, faculty and academic programs.”
She also described the beneficial results of the university’s outreach into the community. “Shenandoah students [and alumni] practice in all areas of health care, from the WATTS program for the homeless and the Free Medical Clinic to the Winchester Family Clinic and the Migrant Camp,” said Zebarth. “These all help the entire community stay healthier.”
Alumna Valerie Kerby Hyde said she remembers her days at Shenandoah as “a tight group of classmates. The 35 of us…literally spent our lives together [during] those five semesters. I remember, after we graduated, checking email to see when everyone passed their NCLEX [exams] and obtained their first jobs.”
Alumni Return for Advanced Degrees
Nursing alumni often return to earn additional degrees and certifications; others choose Shenandoah for a particular degree because of its national reputation for nursing excellence.
Kimberley D. Ryan (ASN, ’01; BSN, ’02; MSN, ’06; and DNP ’10) said she returned to Shenandoah to continue her nursing education “because I liked the close-knit community.”
“Shenandoah provided me with a great foundation,” said Christen Helfrich Morrison (BSN, ’08), now at an Atlanta hospital.
Nurse alumna Ruth Unhoch Wenzel, ASN ’88, BSN ’90, MSN ’98 prepared for a variety of career paths and returned to Shenandoah each time to advance her knowledge. Born and raised in Winchester, she said she loves the Shenandoah Valley and wanted to stay close to home. She has spent 24 years at Valley Health in various capacities and currently serves on Shenandoah’s Alumni Board of Directors. In 1999, she became a family nurse practitioner (FNP) and a certified diabetes educator for diabetes management. She talks to high school students on career days, served on the Nursing Advisory Board and was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Award at the 2011 Division of Nursing Pinning and Hooding Ceremony.
“As a member of the first class of nurse practitioner students, we were a small group of eight,” said Wenzel. “We voted to take classes through the summer to finish in two-and-a-half years. We shared laughter and tears. It was intense, and we all grew up, grew smarter and grew together. Attending Shenandoah equipped me for the real-world workforce.”
Wenzel’s claim is Shenandoah’s aim. The school’ s mission statement is “to prepare graduates who deliver, manage and lead nursing care in a variety of health care settings, and who participate in personal and professional development.”
Current students appreciate both the close relationships with faculty members and the opportunities to take their skills out of the classroom. BSN student Leslie Purcell ’13 participated in a medical mission trip to Brazil during spring break. “It allowed me to put my practical skills and my knowledge to use while providing health care in a remote country,” said Purcell.
Literary legend Dr. Maya Angelou, who received an Honorary Doctorate from Shenandoah in the fall of 2008, once said of the profession of nursing: “As a nurse, [you] have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of [your] patients, their families and ourselves. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”