Abby Shipp joined AUCON’s 7th student nurse apprenticeship cohort with EAH. According to AUCON nurse apprenticeship and clinical coordinator Abby Bell, the program has had 7 cohorts and 27 participants so far. Bell praised Shipp's dedication and expressed confidence in her future success.
In September 2022, AUCON became the first four-year program in Alabama to introduce a registered apprenticeship for RNs. The Nurse Apprenticeship program at EAH provides students with one-on-one training from mentors and compensation for their clinical hours during nursing school.
Bell stated that the nurse apprenticeship program supplies tuition assistance, a progressive wage structure, and practical nursing experience under mentorship. These elements help students build confidence, improve technical skills, develop clinical judgement, and transition to professional practice. The program also allows the healthcare facility to hire nurses who have been trained within their system.
“AUCON has been in partnership with EAH on the Nurse Apprenticeship Program for two years now and is proud to have been the first BSN program in the state to have entered into such a partnership,” said AUCON Clinical Coordinator Hadley Stewart. “We look forward to another semester of working alongside EAH staff to help our students succeed and thrive in the clinical setting.”
Alabama’s nursing apprenticeship program is just one way that the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship is partnering with colleges and universities to remove barriers to entry for students wanting to enter nursing while also helping to meet Governor Ivey’s Success Plus Goal of adding 500,000 credentialed workers to the workforce by 2025.
For questions about apprenticeship please contact Abby Bell, BSN, RN, RNC-OB, at aja0016@auburn.edu
