Regionally Increasing Baccalaureate Nurses (RIBN) Program

studentnurse47 · Apr 23, 2015

I personally do not have experience with a RIBN program, however I am also in NC and my school recently got rid of their RIBN program (I go to a community college and the program was through UNCC) Their reasoning was far too many failures, including failure from the program and NCLEX.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Apr 25, 2015

Regionally Increasing Baccalaureate Nurses

WNC RIBN Project
A component of a multi-regional project funded in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Northwest Health Foundation, Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence, UNC General Administration and The Duke Endowment.
In North Carolina, the two-year Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program is the prevailing level of pre-licensure nursing education with 55 community colleges and 4 private colleges offering the associate degree as compared to 20 pre-licensure BSN programs, 4 of which are in the initial phases of development. In 2012, the ADN programs educated 58.5% of the state's new RN graduates while BSN and entry-level master's programs (MSN) educated 37.2% and diploma programs educated 4.3% of these new RNs [6]. Thus, our challenge is to increase the academic progression of nurses initially licensed at the associate degree level.....
RIBN Definition: A partnership between community or private colleges and universities that utilizes a dual enrollment and four-year shared curriculum pathway for students to achieve a Bachelors of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN) at the beginning of their nursing careers.
STUDENTS IN THE RIBN TRACK:
Are dually admitted both to the college and the university;
Complete the first three years home-based at the community or private college with prerequisite, general study courses the first year and then nursing courses the second and third years, while also taking a university course per semester;
Receive their Associate Degree in Nursing at the end of the third year, successfully pass the NCLEX-RN to be eligible to progress into fourth year of the program;
Complete the fourth year at the university with particular emphasis on gerontological, community health nursing, use of evidenced-based nursing knowledge, and leadership development to complete the BSN degree.
During the 4th year, RIBN students have the option to work part-time as a Registered Nurse while completing their BSN degree...
In 2008, Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College (AB Tech), Western Carolina University (WCU) and the Foundation for Nursing Excellence (FNE) began the RIBN journey. With advice from a national team of experts, sharing strategies for curriculum and faculty development as well as evaluation tools with partners in metropolitan NYC, the WNC RIBN team adapted the Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE) model for dually admitting qualified students into a seamless four-year educational tract. The first cohort of students began the WNC RIBN educational track Fall Semester 2010 with the goal of achieving their BSN degree in 2014....

I was unaware of this program, so had to check out RIBN website. Seems like it would be a win-win for students as tuition less that traditional university education and allows one to work as RN upon obtaining ADN/NCLEX passage 4th yr. Hope any Allnurses members having gone through this program can comment on it as first round of BSN graduates launched just last year.

Program was projecting 73% completion rate. Start of program in 2012, lists 18 students in Sophomore yr; just 8 graduates listed here in 2014:

Current Status of RIBN and Other Academic Progression Initiatives

Program "is a work in progress" should be improved and gaining momentum as now in its 3rd year.

About Us
The first RIBN partnership enrolled students in 2010; 8 universities, 25 community colleges, and 1 private college with an associated degree nursing program are now involved in the project. Additional regions have declared their intent to join RIBN and are developing partnerships. Student enrollment currently approaches 200 and the first graduates will be awarded BSN's in 2014. The model is projected to create an additional 175 BSN prepared nurses for NC annually beginning 2020. Ongoing evaluation and program refinement is identifying best practices in regards to policy, student qualifications, and success factors to strengthen the program as statewide expansion occurs.
Focus of work in the 2014-2016 timeframe will be on increasing the diversity of our applicant pools to better reflect the communities being served, strengthening the practice-educational partnerships at regional levels to best support RIBN RN students entering practice while completing their BSN, and embedding RIBN at the regional and statewide academic levels to assure sustainability.