There are few nursing schools in New Hampshire, but some very good programs. The state, like others tussles with the fall-out from an aging nursing population and rusty educational pathways. But officials have taken innovative steps to increase student nurse programs among the community colleges and universities.
The University of New Hampshire Nursing school delivers one of the more expansive programs in the state with baccalaureate nursing programs, Masters degrees, a post-grad certificate for Nurse Practitioners, and a ground-breaking “direct-entry” Masters for second degree seekers. It is this last degree option, the direct-entry Masters, that signals the idea that Yankee Ingenuity is at work. Programs of this ilk-- that invite career changers with previous degrees in other fields to a fast-track grad degree in nursing-- are rare, but very effective AND practical. Here is a completely untapped market among well-educated non-nurse adults many of whom come pre-packaged with all the right experience and maturity to make it in advanced practice AND help improve the practice of nursing at the same time.
The New Hampshire Board of Nursing maintains a bunker of career and practice-related information, including:
Besides the couple very busy major medical centers in NH, i.e. Dartmouth-Hitchcock which is also the state’s sole Level 1 Trauma Center, nurses have untold opportunity in rural health provision, as well. Many of NH’s communities are quite rural and remote, lacking in adequate healthcare. RNs that have excellent opportunities in NH’s frontier communities include the Advanced Practice Nurses: Certified Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners, and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, all of whom may practice independently of a physician here.
The New Hampshire State Loan Repayment Program targets healthcare practitioners willing to exchange student loan repayment for service in rural healthcare centers. Certified Nurse Practitioners and Certified Nurse Midwives are included. Candidates may earn up to $45,000 for a 3-year service commitment.