For nine nursing students in Tampa Bay, a professional and personal journey that began on January 8, 2007 recently ended and a new one will begin. These foreign-educated physicians recently graduated from Florida International University (FIU) College of Nursing & Health Sciences (CNHS) Foreign-Educated Physician to Nursing (FEPN) program a revolutionary education initiative pioneered by the College to transform foreign-educated physicians into nurses through an accelerated, specialized curriculum.
These graduates are from the inaugural Tampa Bay satellite class of the FEPN a program that originated in 2001 in Miami, Florida (home of FIU CNHS) and delivered for the first time to the Tampa Bay area at the start of 2007. The Tampa graduates represent diverse cultural heritages, including Colombia, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Cuba, Russia and Bulgaria. Financial support from Palm Harbor-based Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) West Florida Division provided funding for local faculty, full scholarships for the students (all recruited from and residing in the Tampa Bay area), and long-distance technology equipment for real-time, interactive videoconferencing delivery of the program between the Tampa students and classmates at the FIU Biscayne Bay Campus headquarters in Miami. In all, 41 students will be graduating this summer from both locations, bringing the programs overall total number of graduates to nearly 350 since its inaugural graduating class of December 2003.