ETSU College Of Nursing Recognized As A Top School In Online Health Care Education

From East Tennessee State University:

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – East Tennessee State University’s College of Nursing has been named one of 2021’s best schools for online programs and courses in health care education by EduMed.org.

ETSU earned top honors for distance education in the following subject areas:

• #17 among the Best Online MSN Programs
• #23 among the Best Online DNP Programs
• #23 among the Best Online Nurse Practitioner Programs
• #24 among the Best Online Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Programs

“We are extremely proud of all of our undergraduate and graduate programs, including these recently ranked online programs,” said Dr. Leann Horsley, dean of the ETSU College of Nursing. “As the largest nursing school in the state of Tennessee, ETSU is committed to training nurses and nurse educators to address the nursing shortage in our state and across the country. High-quality, effective online programs allow more nurses, especially nurses in rural areas, to continue their graduate nursing education, while still remaining in the workforce and providing vital nursing care to their communities.”

ETSU’s fully online MSN program includes specialty concentrations in nursing administration, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, nursing education and the family nurse practitioner. The DNP program is offered in an online/blended format in which students complete most of their coursework online with required intensive sessions one to two times per semester.

“We set out to find schools that are making online education a priority,” said Wes Ricketts, founder of EduMed.org. “Each school in our rankings has a winning combination of flexibility, affordability, academic rigor and student support. This is a tall task in a field that leans on face-to-face interaction and hands-on training.”

ETSU’s recognition comes at a time when students across the country are taking more of their courses either fully or partially online. According to data from the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment in online courses increased by 93 percent between fall 2019 and fall 2020. Nearly two-thirds of college students took at least one online course in 2020.

“COVID-19 forced many schools to rapidly expand their online program catalogs to meet increased student demand,” said Ricketts. “The colleges that offer accredited online courses in the widest variety of disciplines stand to benefit the most from the mass transition to higher education online.”

EduMed.org researched and analyzed more than 7,700 accredited schools using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and from the schools themselves. The website’s data science team then applied a proprietary algorithm to rank all qualifying schools for each health care discipline. Primary data points include number of online programs in subject area, online program tuition and fees, access to academic counseling, access to career placement services, number of online students, and percentage of students with institutional aid.

To be eligible, a school must hold active regional accreditation and have at least one partially online program in the ranking subject. Just 8% of U.S. postsecondary institutions earned a ranking position.

About EduMed.org:

EduMed.org (https://www.edumed.org) set out in 2018 to support higher education in health care. Their free resource materials and expert-driven guidebooks help students find scholarships, financial aid and top degree programs in nursing, health care administration, public health, and dozens of other key medical and health disciplines. Since the site’s official launch in 2019, EduMed.org has been featured by more than 100 premier colleges and universities across the U.S.

This press release was produced by East Tennessee State University. The views expressed are the author's own.