Welcome to the Excelsior Community College School of Nursing and Allied Health.

School of Nursing and Allied Health’s Mission and Vision

The School of Nursing formerly the Nursing Department was one of the first four departments of the Excelsior Community College when it began it’s official sojourn in September 1974 . The idea was to offer an associate degree programme with a bias towards school nursing, this however was met with resistance from certain quarters. What eventually materialized was a programme offering a diploma in Nursing with a focus on school health.  Incorporated in the curriculum was liberal arts and science and provisions for extensive training in community health.

Excelsior Community College School of Nursing (ECCSON) was the first of its kind in Jamaica, preparing prospective nurses in a community college setting. Enrollees had full students status unlike the traditional Nursing Schools that were operating under the apprenticeship system. The funding of EXED School of Nursing was managed under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education, while the others were prodigies of the Ministry of Health, except for Northern Caribbean University (formerly West Indies College School of Nursing) which was a private entrepreneurial activity. During the 1980s ECCSON collaborated with the University of Miami in offering a Bachelors of Science in Nursing, but concluded this arrangement because it was no longer viable. 

In 1985 the school encountered a setback due to financial difficulty resulting in its closure transiently. The Ministry of Health was approached for assistance to ensure that the current batch of students graduated. In good faith and after a feasibility study by their task force to justify viability, the Ministry of Health came to the nursing school’s rescue.

The Nursing Program has grown tremendously over the the past twenty two years. The success rate of our our students in the Regional Examinations for Registered Nurses (RENR) has consistently exceeded the ninety fifth percentile standard. Many students have qualified for the Gertrude Swaby honour roll. They have also participated in the student nurse of the year competition, and awarded second place on numerous occasions.

In 2004, ECCSON  embarked on establishing a generic baccalaureate degree program on a franchise with the University of the West Indies School of Nursing (UWISON). This programme has received a high volume of interested applicants both locally and from the wider Caribbean Region. The first group of successful students completed their bachelor degree in 2007, many of them graduating with honours, mainly first class honours. Among the students of nursing schools offering this generic Bachelor of Science affiliated with the UWISON, ECCSON students have achieved the highest GPA. Their performance scores at the top of the ladder in the RENR, is comparable to that of any other nursing school in the country. Of that batch, sixty one of our students sat the RENR, fifty were successful, and ten had to redo one paper. One successful graduate has even matriculated to medical school.