Patients with contusions, bruises, breathing, and eating problems are cared for by FSU students. Some of the patients even talk. No one calls the patient a dummy. On the third floor, each has a name.
However, the nursing program at FSU hasn’t always been this high tech, or functional.

“It’s a new day,” said Dr. Afua Arhin, the department chair for the program. “It’s definitely a new day. It’s a good day.

Arhin was tapped to join the faculty after the nursing program was essentially shut down by Chancellor James Anderson. In 2009, students were not passing the National Council Licensure Examination, known as NCLEX. The students were unable to practice in the field.

“I love a challenge,” Arhin said. “Somebody from North Carolina called and said there’s a challenge and are you willing to attack that challenge in Fayetteville.”

Arhin came to Fayetteville from Grambling State University where she’d overhauled a nursing program as well. At FSU, Arhin found the remnants of a lot of inexperience. read more…