The ribbon was cut February 24 on Felician University’s new Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing, or ABSN Learning Site in Parsippany.

The ABSN Learning Site addresses the growing nationwide nursing shortage by offering three start dates a year, allowing students to leverage their existing non-nursing college experience to earn a BSN in as few as 16 months.

The hybrid program offers a combination of online coursework, onsite experience, and clinical rotation with top area hospitals in the Atlantic Health System including Morristown, Overlook, Newton, Chilton, and Hackettstown Medical Centers. Alan Lieber, Vice President of Atlantic Health System and President of Overlook Hospital said, “We wouldn’t have partnered with Felician to generate the next generation of nurses unless they were the best of the best.”

The ABSN Learning Site features a state-of-the-art simulation lab where students work with computer driven manikins such as “Sim Man,” which allows them to learn how to interact with mock patients in a safe, controlled setting. One manikin simulates a woman in childbirth, another a vomiting child. “And you learn how to deal with it, it’s not threatening as if it were a real patient,” said Felician Nursing Professor Marie Cueman who added, “back in the day when I first learned how to become a nurse we practiced on patients and it was very scary, because you’re always afraid of doing something wrong, but the manikins are computer driven and can simulate various clinical issues.”

From Left to Right: Dr. Christine Milhal, Dean School of Nursing, Alan Lieber, Atlantic Health System VP , Parsippany Mayor Michael Soriano, Dr. Anne Prisco, Felician President, Dr. Sabratha Thomas, Director of Nursing Academic Services, Hybrid ABSN Program at Parsippany Site, Mary Pat Sullivan, Chief Nursing Officer, Overlook Hospital, Robert Clougherty, VP for Technology Design & Innovation, Marie Scolavino, Site Director, Parsippany Site, Prof. Christine Lawrence, Program Director Hybrid ABSN Program at Parsippany Site

Felician Alumna Mary Jo Miller serves as a Nurse Educator for the Endoscopy department at Overlook Hospital. She says it is wonderful to see the advances in technology, “The students have hands on simulation, which is incredible because you cannot create those situations sometimes in a live environment. It’s incredible to see it expanding to this level and having all this offered for our nursing students”

Blessed Mary Angela was the Foundress of the Felician Sisters. At the time of her death she was known to have said that she wanted to multiply herself a thousand times to serve all the needs of the world. Speaking at the Ribbon Cutting Felician President Dr. Anne Prisco said, “Whenever we’re together, and I look at all of you, I think Blessed Mary Angela is smiling down on us all saying I have nothing to worry about because there are all these people to carry on our work with compassion and respect.”

Parsippany Mayor Michael Soriano, whose grandmother was a nurse is thrilled to have the new learning site in his township saying, “What you’re doing here is personal for me. Thank you for adding to the flavor of this Township, and welcome”.

The accelerated program offers a career path for adult students in their forties and fifties. Dr Christine Mihal Dean of Felician’s School of Nursing said, “Many of our adult students have had other careers, some very well regarded in high paying fields but they find it doesn’t feed their soul. You know, as a nurse, there’s not one single day that you work that you don’t change somebody’s life, and that is powerful, very powerful. And that is what we do.”

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About Felician University

Felician University engages over 2,300 undergraduate, graduate, and adult students through programs in Arts & Sciences, Business, Nursing, and Education. Universal Franciscan values of social justice, compassion, and respect for human dignity serve as an inclusive foundation for transforming the lives of tomorrow’s leaders. Felician University’s education is ranked 3rd best return on investment for private colleges in New Jersey 2018 by the PayScale.com College ROI Report and is ranked #1 safest college campus in the state by niche.com.