Notre Dame of Maryland University partners with Mount St. Mary’s University to address nursing shortage

In response to nursing shortages growing more critical every year in Maryland, the leaders of Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore and Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg have signed a partnership to enable graduates of Mount St. Mary’s to earn their nursing degrees. 

To announce the new program, leaders from the two universities gathered for a ceremonial signing of the memorandum of understanding in the nursing simulation lab at Notre Dame April 25.

“As we know, there is a shortage of RNs in Maryland,” said NDMU’s president Marylou Yam, as she and Mount St. Mary’s president Timothy Trainor sat down to sign the partnership agreement. Citing Maryland Hospital Association statistics, Yam noted that one in four hospital nursing positions is currently vacant and that more than 13,000 additional registered nurses will be needed by 2035.

“As an RN myself, I know firsthand the positive impact that professional nursing has on health care outcomes, health policy and research,” Yam said.

The new program will enable life sciences students graduating from Mount St. Mary’s to earn a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing at Notre Dame in 15 months. They will be able to study either at the main campus in north Baltimore or at the hybrid campus in Elkridge. New graduates will then be qualified to sit for their registered nurse licensing exam.

“We are in a partnership meeting a vital societal need,” Trainor said, adding he was excited to partner with another Catholic school. He said he expects students to transition easily and well from their studies at Mount St. Mary’s to Notre Dame.

Yam noted that leaders from both Mount St. Mary’s life sciences program and Notre Dame’s School of Nursing worked on the agreement for several months.

Mount St. Mary’s participates in similar partnerships, including one with Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va., according to Donna Klinger, Mount St. Mary’s executive director of communications. In those programs, a student leaves Mount St. Mary’s after three years to complete two years at another school. Klinger noted that many students would prefer to finish their college studies where they started.

She estimated about five students a year take part in those programs. 

“We expect that to go up with this program,” Klinger said.

Notre Dame, which has offered nursing programs since at least the 1970s, has expanded to include both four-year RN programs and graduate programs, all of them co-ed.

The School of Nursing currently enrolls about 200, according to Barbara Gough, director of the school’s Center for Caring with Technology.

“We are proud to partner with the Mount and let us savor the promise that this partnership will bring to the students we serve and the state of Maryland and beyond,” Yam said.

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