Nurses Middle College aims to be just what the doctor ordered for Tennessee’s nursing shortage

Students taking part in nursing training (Photo by Nurses Middle College)

Dr. Andrea Poynter says her work establishing a new nursing based public charter school in Nashville is in full “overdrive” right now.

Poynter is the process of filling leadership positions at the future Nurses Middle College Nashville, while also finalizing negotiations for a temporary space to use until a permanent school building is ready.

That temporary location will be in the downtown area of Nashville as Poynter says it’s important to ensure her future students have easy access to the school’s university partners and hospitals. Nurses students will be doing clinical rotations with health care partners like HCA Centennial, Vanderbilt, and Ascension St. Thomas in addition to taking dual enrollment college classes.

Dr. Andrea Poynter (left) conducting a Nurses Middle College Summer Camp at Belmont University (Photo by Sky Arnold

“We set up our dual enrollment courses a little different where when they’re younger students, like tenth-grade, we have people that go with these students to the college campuses. So, it could be universities or community colleges, to you know, make sure they can navigate, get to the classes, and they are attending these courses there instead of doing like virtual dual enrollment classes because we’re trying to train and get them prepared for this college experience,” said Poynter.

The road to providing that experience for high school students has taken a few turns.

The Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education voted down Poynter’s application to open the school last July, in part because leaders in the Tennessee school district felt her vision didn’t provide anything different than what existing Metro Schools provide.

Poynter says ten years of experience as a nursing professor has led her to believe differently.  She says too many students are arriving unprepared for higher education nursing programs.

Poynter says Nurses Middle College will be different because it will have a true partnership with the nursing industry.

“We have industry experts and professionals coming alongside these students to help them through this whole transition process so it’s more than just education in the classroom,” said Poynter. “You’re being educated in the classroom, but you’re doing hands on and it’s like a true mentorship.”

Earlier this month the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission unanimously agreed with Poynter’s assessment and overturned the denial from Metro Nashville Public Schools. That decision paved the way for Nurses to open next fall with an initial ninth-grade class of 125 students.   

“It was reassuring, and it provided a lot more hope that they saw the vision and the potential for Nurses Middle College,” said Poynter.

Nurses will add a grade each year and eventually serve up to 500 high school students with a curriculum that infuses nursing into every topic, including math and history.

The model has had success in other states and Poynter says it will eventually play a valuable role addressing Tennessee’s nursing shortage, because her future students will be receiving college credit in high school and experience to be ready to enter a career in nursing faster.

Student taking part in nursing training (Photo by Nurses Middle College)

“When we get these students out, they’ll be more equipped and better prepared when they come into these nursing programs. It’ll be a faster admission process because a lot of schools, like they may be listed as like a two-year school they’ll get their associates degree, but there are general education courses that these students have to finish before they are ever even admitted into nursing,” said Poynter. “I need to bypass all of that and get these students directly into the program, so they graduate sooner.”

Like all public charter schools, Nurses will be free for students who attend.

Poynter expects to begin holding recruitment events for students before the new year and one of her goals is to ensure the future student body is diverse. In the health care field, 80 percent of nurses are white while many of the patients they serve are not.

Poynter says improving diversity in nursing will improve the care patients receive.

“It was very intentional with this school to ensure that we’re pursuing diverse underserved student populations to try to help increase representation in health care because it provides better health care outcomes when patients can be cared for, receive different type of services from people who have similar backgrounds, similar languages.”

Families with eighth-graders interesting in Nurses Middle College Nashville can fill out an interest form online to learn more.