Associate of Science in Nursing (RN)

The two-year registered nursing program at Palo Verde College is designed to prepare the student with the knowledge and clinical skills required to assume the responsibilities of an entry level registered nurse. Upon graduation the student receives an Associate Degree in Nursing and is eligible to take the national licensure examination to become a registered nurse.

This program will accept 20 students per year with a goal to graduate 20 students per year. The first graduating class will be 2 years after program start.

The purpose of the program is to provide students with a lucrative career in nursing as a Registered Nurse. The curriculum and course sequence progress from simple to complex knowledge and skills with emphasis on nursing process, caring, problem solving and critical thinking. The Nursing Program graduate is prepared as a clinician to think critically using the nursing process, safely perform nursing care, teach individuals, families, communities and members of the health care team, function as a client advocate, provide leadership, manage resources, delegate tasks, and supervise unlicensed personnel within the legal scope of practice of the Registered Nurse. Upon completion of the program, the student is prepared to take their NCLEX examination and begin practicing as a Registered Nurse.

Palo Verde College, Blythe, and the Inland Empire region has an extreme need for an added RN program. Over the past decade, the Inland Empire region has struggled with a severe RN shortage. The RN supply and demand is at a deficit and this shortage is projected to continue through 2035.The Inland Empire region has the highest RN labor market demand. The aging population and patient population in California and the Inland Empire is increasing with more critically ill patients and patients with chronic illnesses. (Haddad & Toney-Butler, 2019). Therefore, more RNs are needed. Blythe has many LVNs who have and will graduate from the Palo Verde College LVN Program. Due to the VN’s limited scope of practice, they will require more RNs to supervise those LVNs as more elderly patients fill the area’s skilled nursing and acute care facilities.

Nursing programs receive more applications than can be accommodated. The Inland Empire region is not enrolling adequate numbers of nursing students to meet the current and projected need. The need for RNs in Blythe is crucial. Qualified students and residents of Blythe who are accepted into an RN program must move away to attend school due to the geographical distance of the nearest RN program, which increases the cost of the program for them. Reasons that affect RN supply and demand do not remain stagnant in this region. As the aging population increases, RNs trained at the Palo Verde College Nursing Program are more likely to stay here if they are Blythe residents and have elderly family to care for. Without a presence of an RN Program within 100 miles, the plight of Palo Verde Healthcare District will not change and becomes a more critical need to serve the population of Blythe and its surrounding communities. The courses currently scheduled for the program meet the colleges requirements for an associate degree and the California Board of Registered Nursing’s regulations.