Nova Scotia accelerating nursing program shows ‘significant growth’ at a time of great need – CTV
February 12, 2025
At a time when the vacancy rate in Nova Scotia for Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses is almost 17 per cent and demonstrably higher in many rural areas, one nursing school serves as an example of a step in a direction that could help lower those numbers and improve the shortage.
The two-year accelerated nursing program at St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, N.S., offers students a difficult and jampacked 24-month academic experience.
“It’s been very fast paced,” said Eva Boyd, who began her nursing studies last month.
Students in the traditional four-year nursing program are eligible to begin their studies immediately after high school. The accelerated option requires students to already have university academic experience.
“Those students are starting the program with that previous education, and they are doing six straight semesters, which is really 24 months of education,” said Hallaran.
Boyd’s classmate Kyle Prinoski described the program as being nonstop and difficult, with simulations using mannequins that serve as stand-in patients, while he learns all the basic skills required to become a nurse.
