RN to B.S. graduate comes full circle to help other community college students earn their bachelor's
Traceye Proffitt
You could say that VCU School of Nursing clinical assistant professor and alumna Tracye Proffitt (B.S.’02/N, M.S.’06/N) has come full circle in her new job as coordinator of the RN to B.S. program.
A graduate of Rappahannock Community College who began her career as a registered nurse, she’s the perfect example of how the RN to B.S. program works … and how it works even better now for students at Rappahannock and Southside Virginia Community Colleges because of a recent concurrent enrollment agreement that paves a faster, more efficient path to the bachelor’s degree.
The first cohort of 13 students, as of August, are enrolled at VCU while simultaneously completing their final year of community college.
After Proffitt graduated from Rappahannock Community College and her high school sweetheart graduated from Germanna Community College, also as an RN, the two married. In order to secure hospital jobs, they moved from Fredericksburg to the Richmond area, where she worked for VCU Health System for two years while completing B.S. prerequisites.
“I had a really good experience during my nursing student clinical at VCU Health, which led me to work there … and then to attend the RN to B.S. program at VCU because of its reputation for high-quality education,” she says.
George Proffitt Jr. (B.S.’02/N, M.S.’05/N) joined his wife in the RN to B.S. program. Studying and working at VCU, she says, “We had a greater appreciation for what we could do as nurses and how we could advance in the profession.”
The couple went on to earn their master’s degrees. He is now vice president and partner with Colonial Heights Medical Center and Hopewell Medical Center. And she -- in addition to teaching at the School of Nursing and coordinating the RN to B.S. program -- is pursuing her Ph.D. at VCU School of Nursing with a research focus on health outcomes of intensive care unit survivors.
Proffitt says one advantage of the new concurrent enrollment partnership is that students can plan their paths from the start. “They won’t have to stop and put their educations on the back burner to start nursing. Instead, they can carry the momentum with them.
“A lot of community colleges have second-career students,” she adds, “but I think this partnership also has great potential for high school students who wish to pursue nursing as well.”
“Tracye’s is an inspiring story,” says Debra Barksdale, Ph.D., Nursing Alumni Endowed Professor and associate dean of academic affairs. As Barksdale notes, however, this new streamlined approach will make it even simpler for community college students to succeed in a baccalaureate setting.
Barksdale says the RN to B.S. courses – all of which are online -- enhance nurses’ overall knowledge of subjects ranging from administration and informatics to historical and contemporary trends that have influenced nursing as a profession.
Participants can take a deeper dive into topics such as social determinants of health, evidence-based practice and interprofessional collaboration.
“Students also enhance clinical management and decision-making skills,” Barksdale says. “It allows them to apply what they have learned in virtual and real world settings.”
A recent position statement by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing notes a number of positive outcomes linked to nurses being educated at baccalaureate and higher levels.
“I have heard so many of our RN to B.S. graduates say how much they learned and how it changed their whole perspective on nursing and nursing education,” Barksdale says.
Proffitt concurs. “I definitely feel fortunate for the knowledge and insight I gained in the RN to B.S. program.”
In addition to the Rappahannock and Southside Virginia-VCU agreements, as of last year the School of Nursing offers guaranteed admission for students who graduate in good standing from any associate of applied science in nursing program in the Virginia Community College System.
By Cynthia McMullen
