UArizona College of Nursing MEPN program in Gilbert is uniquely educational, recent graduate says

In December 2021, the University of Arizona College of Nursing Master of Science – Entry to the Profession of Nursing (MS-MEPN) program opened in Downtown Gilbert, Arizona.

The MEPN program is intended for those who hold a degree in a different field and are interested in becoming registered nurses. MEPN is an accelerated 15-month program that prepares its students to become a registered nurse in for the Front of Health Care. Prior to the opening of the program in Gilbert, the program was only offered in Tucson; however, with the current nursing staff shortage across the nation, the MEPN program is aimed to help fill the need of nearly 1 million nurses projected by 2030.

Recent graduate of the MEPN program, Niko Ramos who is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Student, recently accepted a position with the College of Nursing for the MEPN Gilbert program as a part-time core faculty member focusing on the Psychiatric-Mental Health Block Level 3

Niko explained, since MEPN is an accelerated program, students at the Gilbert campus can gain valuable and uniquely educational experiences from hands-on clinical education and training to building gratifying friendships with cohorts in a short period of time.

"I think Gilbert has a very strong ability of controlling the environment that the nursing students are within. I have educated other schools and precepted other students in the hospital [setting]. And I have found that since U of A [University of Arizona] is, I don’t want to say isolated, but within its own little area and Gilbert, you find that the students all are aiming for the same thing. They're all going towards the same goal. So, there's not a lot of distractions, you end up finding like-minded people, you end up studying the same thing, you project each other forward because everyone is going in the same direction. I think Gilbert is very unique in that way. So, a lot of the times that people are transplants from other states or other cities, so they are only there to study. And I think that really helps to fuel. What I found enjoyable was a very tight knit community of people that all wanted to find the same goal. So why did I guess why did I like it rather than choose it was because I became very good friends with my classmates, I still talk with them."

Prior to Niko’s decision to go into nursing, he was deciding whether he wanted to go to medschool, but after he spoke with fellow classmates, he realized nursing was what he envisioned himself doing long-term.

"I got to shadow a nurse practitioner, and she was a lot more of what I envisioned, I wanted to be. And when talking to her, she just brought up ‘you know, you can do nursing, and if you ever wanted to go back, you can be a nurse practitioner.’ So, and then take what you've learned as a nurse into being a provider. So that's kind of the whole highlight of where I'm at now – is I really believe the things that I learned in MEPN. And the rigor of the program helped me not only to succeed as a nurse, but also to help me to understand the importance of bedside manners, therapeutic communication, and taught me a lot of discipline that I still will take into being a nurse practitioner"

The fast-paced program allows students the opportunity to discover where they envision themselves in health care, whether that is staying in school to advance their education or go straight into a hospital, clinic, or physician’s office.

"I like nursing, because there's also a variety of different things that you can do with it. Point this back to MEPN, I think MEPN is uniquely capable of educating and through the rigor of the program, developing nurses that I feel are ready for advanced – either advanced careers, advanced jobs, doing leadership within the hospital taking on higher roles than I've seen other people and I have seen that with my classmates and I've seen that with the kids that I have interacted with just they just seem more mature."

Not only are MEPN students studying and preparing to become nurses, but the environment students are in – gives them a chance to grow and mature from the day a student starts to the day they graduate, Niko explained.

"Everyone in the same path, having those same conversations having that same minus, I think, really develops, or accelerates the maturity of those kids, I always tell them from the first day they walk in to the third, till the day they graduate, they're going to be an entirely different person. Just because of how much you have to mature through that program, that's when it's accelerated when all of that pressure is under you, on top of you, it really does help to develop that person into being a stronger version of themselves. And I do think it prepares them for being an actual nurse and the trials that come with it."

While nursing can come with its difficulties, between interceding with fellow staff to the family of a patient, Niko added, that the MEPN program offers mental health resources to its students to help navigate those experiences.

"I’ll speak for the Gilbert program, I'm really happy with because they seem to be the only program that cares about the mental health of their students, and has assignments or has requirements, that focus on them developing their own skills and coping skills so that when they face those, not as fun situations in nursing, they can handle them so that we have their attention and they can continue to develop. And I think that also ends up resulting in the students being put into leadership, these students being asked to do more, because they've shown that they are more resilient and better educated than other colleges."

With the program being advanced, students will start the first month with classes and rigorous studying, Niko explained, after that, students will go on to the clinicals and experience the clinical education portion of the program – allowing the students to structure their day with ease.

"If I were to tell new grads or new students – would be your first block is going to be your hardest ever. Because you don't understand what you're doing yet. It's kind of like starting a new job. And everyone's just throwing stuff at you. Yeah. So, and you don't know you don't know the shortcuts. You don't understand what the study you don't understand. But my biggest suggestion would be hold on until that clinical block is done. And then you can breathe. Because for that first part, you're sprinting as fast as you can, through that block. After that, when you start going to clinicals it is 100 times easier because you can actually space out your days."

Whether a student is an undergraduate seeking their Bachelor of Science in Nursing or going into the MEPN program, the nursing field offers schedule flexibility from working three days on to three days off or to become a travel nurse, Niko explained, there’s an option for everyone interested in the field.

"Have fun with it. There's so many different things that you can do with it. There's so many different avenues. Just because you don't like one thing doesn't mean that you can't do another thing. Travel? [I] mean there's just so many different avenues. You can just do a nine to five you can do three days a week. You can travel the world and get paid to do it."

Niko is currently serving as a nurse, and in May 2024, Niko will receive his degree in Doctor of Nursing Practice. He will move on to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner in clinics or private practices.