Tennessee Tech’s online nurse practitioner program has been ranked the best in Tennessee, according to NursePractitionerOnline.Com.
Tech Associate Professor of Nursing and Graduate Program Coordinator Rachel Hall said the win reflects national visibility, local leadership, and clinical rigor. Hall said the program’s strength comes from faculty members who are still active nurse practitioners.
“They work in the community here,” Hall said. “They currently see patients, and they see the importance of educating strong nurse practitioner students. You know, we currently have a 100 percent SNP Certification passing rate, and that’s a lot because the national average is only 85 percent.”
Hall said the fact that Tech consistently puts out prepared students is very meaningful. Hall said the 45-hour program is usually completed over two and a half years, so it is a manageable workload for students who already work in the field.
Hall said that most programs have moved online to be more flexible for the nursing workforce. Hall said there is already a statewide nurse shortage, so programs have had to become more accessible to working professionals. Hall said the coursework is administered 100 percent online.
“The majority of our students all work full time in our program,” Hall said. “And so, by being able to go online and do it at their own pace, it gives them that flexibility. We’ll have recorded lectures they can watch since most nurses work three 12 hour shifts. So depending on when they’re working, they can work their school schedule around that time frame.”
Family Nurse Practitioner Concentration Coordinator Emily Lee said the hands-on component came mostly at the undergraduate level, and working nurses get experience with every shift. Lee said there are some interactive parts of the program, like clinical experiences, students must complete in the community of their choosing.
“Not all of our students, because we are online, actually live in the state of Tennessee,” Lee said. ‘We do have students in our program from other states, so these students may be doing their clinical program rotations or preceptorship in their local community. Which is ideal because they’re likely going to get out and work in that community as well.”
Lee said those placements provide real-world application in a supervised setting. Lee said there are also two immersive on-campus experiences. She said these “residency day” experiences let students try a handful of different activities they may perform in the real world alongside their peers and professors.
Lee said the ranking methodology is based on federal data about Tennessee’s accredited online nurse practitioner programs. Some of the metrics used include accessibility and active enrollment, as well as things like diversity of offerings. Lee said faculty experiences, tuition rates, acceptance rates, and completion rates also impact the rankings.
Across the state, East Tennessee State University ranked second, followed by Vanderbilt, UT-Knoxville, and Union University in Jackson.