June 04, 2010 01:29am EST 

Bloomfield, NJ – The Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing has been one of the state’s oldest schools since its inception in 1892.
Now the school, one of few diploma schools for nurses in the state of New Jersey, is closing its doors for good. The school consistently enrolls 140 students a year. This year’s class, the class of 2011, is the school’s last graduating class.
The Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing is affiliated with Mountainside Hospital, a 365-bed private hospital in Glen Ridge.
Graduating over 3,100 nurses in 117 years, the School of Nursing will now combine its faculty and students into a new nursing program at Caldwell College, as the bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) has become the standard for nurses. Students who graduate from the two-year nursing program are then able to take the state test to become a registered nurse.
With the already low amount of nursing schools in the area, and the shortage of nurses in the United States medical industry, it stands as good news that Caldwell College will host its first-ever BSN program, pending an approval from the New Jersey Board of Nursing and others.
The balance between a higher standard for nurses and adequate nurse staffing levels is becoming increasingly more delicate in a time where hospitals are populated by more critical-care patients and nurses are expected to know and understand new medications.
Although the School of Nursing is closing its doors, the library and a 75-seat classroom will continue to be used by Caldwell College nursing students. The 12 faculty members on the will continue to be paid through the Mountainside Hospital payroll and continue to be faculty at Caldwell College.
The increased expectations for nurses in the medical field have led Mountainside and other nursing schools to push for more advanced training. Other nursing schools in New Jersey that suffered the same fate include the Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing and the Helene Fuld School of Nursing.
The American Nurses Association believes in bachelor’s degree requirement, as they believe 66% of the nurse workforce should have BSNs. Studies have shown that registered nurses with BSNs would save 4 lives out of every 1,000 surgical patients (according to the Journal of American Medical Association). The New Jersey Sate Nurses Association believes that nurses should obtain the four-year degree within a decade of nursing school.
One of the most historic schools in the state, the Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing has closed its doors, but has not given up on its goal of producing committed, compassionate nurses dedicated to providing high-quality health care.