Utmb School of Nursing was founded in 1890 as the John Sealy Hospital Training School for Nurses and it is also the oldest school of nursing in the Southwest. In 1896, it became University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) School of Nursing (SON), one of the divisions of the university. The UTMB’ SON is also University’s first affiliated nursing school west of the Mississippi, offering nursing education in its Baccalaureate, Master’s, and PhD nursing programs.
The Utmb School offers the Baccalaureate Nursing Program, which earns the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. The program consists of three tracks including, the BSN-Traditional, the Accelerated BSN (BACC 2), and the RN-BSN Track. The Traditional track of BSN provides a 4-semester or 5-semester course series that is instructed on-campus.
The BACC 2 accelerated track can be completed in 3 semesters and consist of hybrid, online/on-campus curriculum. This program is fashioned for students with a degree in another field. The RN-BSN track is online, which is specifically prepared for RNs seeking a BSN degree, which is also an alternative to traditional educational approaches. The completion of all program requirements, graduates in the BSN and BACC 2 tracks offers eligibility to sit for the NCLEX-RN examination.
MSN program of UTMB SON is the oldest program in Texas and the school is also only state-funded multi-categorical health referral center in TX, which offers students an environment of very high level of both nursing practice and research. Few of the school core curriculum classes, such as the Pediatric, Geriatric, and Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Programs; and the Nursing Education and Leadership Programs are Internet based.
It is been twelve years, since the school is offering Nursing PhD Program and from fall 2009, it is been offered online. All courses offered by the Utmb School are online, which uses synchronous and asynchronous delivery and students are required to visit campus 5 days each year for one course.
The school also offers BSN to PhD and MSN to PhD programs, which is two tracts in the BSN to PhD level: Education and Leadership. The program is concentrated on curriculum, such as health promotion, human response, and healing with research emphases in biobehavioral, vulnerable populations, and contemporary pedagogies from a holistic perspective.