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Chuck Adamson
Senior Information Specialist
573-882-6843
adamsoncw@missouri.edu
Published: Aug. 14, 2006
Story Source: Roxanne McDaniel, 573-882-0228,
Linda Butterfield Cupp, 573-882-4890
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Registered nurse Tammy Rood tried going back to school once before.
It was a traditional University of Missouri-Columbia campus-based master’s degree program. The 70-mile commute from her home in Hermann, Mo. - she was already commuting three times per week to her job at University Hospital - was too much. And that was before she had children.
Now Rood, 34, has three daughters, still works at University Hospital and is more than halfway through an MU master’s degree program that will make her a pediatric nurse practitioner. The flexibility of an online nursing program, provided through MU Direct, has made her new career goals possible, she said.
"I enjoy pediatrics. I enjoy this work here. But the commute is crazy," Rood said. "It’s definitely a lot of work, but it’s definitely going to be worth the time invested."
Rood’s goal is to practice in the Hermann area where she, her husband and family live and run a Christmas tree farm and wholesale nursery. As a registered nurse, the opportunity to work with children was limited there.
"I’ve tried working near home in adult health care, and that’s just not where my heart is," Rood said. As a pediatric nurse practitioner, she’ll be able to work with children full time.
Roxanne McDaniel, associate dean of the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, said enrollment in online programs has soared in recent years. That’s good news for rural Missouri communities.
"A lot of our students are committed to staying in place and practicing health care in their communities," McDaniel said.
"(Nurse practitioners) can provide primary care in a clinic by themselves, as long as they have collaboration with a physician. She could see children, diagnose, prescribe and treat," McDaniel said. "Some small towns don’t have a doctor or only have a doctor visit once a week. So these (nurse practitioners) run the clinics."
MU offers a variety of online nursing degree programs. Registered nurses with associate’s degrees can earn a bachelor’s degree and then move into the master’s programs.
MU Direct is a unit of MU Extension and helps administer online degree programs for multiple MU schools and colleges, including journalism, education, nursing and health sciences. There are 35 degree options offered through MU Direct. In 2005, there were 6,500 students enrolled, said Linda Butterfield Cupp, director of MU Direct.
"We provide the infrastructure to offer the programs throughout Missouri and beyond to non-traditional students," Cupp said.
For more information on MU Direct online programs, log on to http://mudirect.missouri.edu.