Serving Those Who Serve Their Country: Preparing Military Veterans for Nursing Degrees

Abstract: Challenges remain for integrating Veterans into civilian occupations postservice. This article describes an innovative project affording military service personnel serving in health occupational specialties the opportunity for completion of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. The Vets2BSN project, launched in July 2014, has achieved several years of enrollment and graduation success using standardized measures and assessment of student modifiers to establish project success. Nearly 80 eligible students holding current or former rank as corpsmen or medics have enrolled in the program with 59 conferrals and an NCLEX pass rate of 98% (48 of 49). Prospective assessment of progress allows real-time intervention and remediation to achieve successful graduation rates. Collaboration of university administration and faculty has provided a foundation for reintegration of military health professionals possessing skills allowing for educational credit and acceleration of studies toward earning the BSN and joining the workforce as nursing professionals.