Gadsden’s first-ever nursing class had 11 students and two instructors but is now home to 353 students and 18 instructors. Instructors and administrators noted that over the five decades since the program’s inception, the technology, demographics and skills related to nursing education all changed significantly.
In addition to the increased number of male nursing students and technology such as simulators are now available to students, instructors say the core competencies required of nurses have changed over the years, with an increased emphasis on critical thinking.
“Nurses have to think about the problems and become problem-solvers,” said Susan Mullins, who taught at Gadsden from 1997 to 2011. “It’s not just about reading a textbook. They have to assess the situation and think about what needs to be done.”
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