Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention - Transition to Practice Program - BridgeRN is a transition-to-practice (TTP) initiative bridging nursing education with community-based practice in South Los Angeles. It prepares undergraduate nursing students to become practice-ready registered nurses (RNs) through an additional 100 hours of longitudinal, community-based clinical education delivered across multiple semesters. Learning alongside community providers and families with complex medical and social needs, students develop the competence, confidence, and professional identity to deliver high-quality care in medically vulnerable communities while strengthening the nursing workforce. Need. California faces a projected shortage of over 44,000 RNs by 2030, with the greatest needs in non-hospital settings including primary care, behavioral health, school-based health, and chronic disease management. Yet nursing education remains hospital-centered: CDU's clinical model is roughly 80% hospital-based, leaving graduates well-prepared for acute care but under-exposed to the community settings where shortages are most severe. Embedded in LA County Service Planning Area (SPA) 6, CDU serves communities with economic hardship, limited access to primary and preventive care, and high burdens of chronic disease. Many CDU students come from these neighborhoods, reinforcing the University's mission to prepare nurses who understand, and remain in the communities they serve. Approach. BridgeRN implements a comprehensive TTP model integrating community-based clinical education, competency-based learning, simulation, faculty and preceptor development, structured mentoring, academic-practice partnerships, and student support. The program strengthens three complementary pathways that collectively expand the community-based nursing workforce: (1) an LVN-to-BSN pathway that reduces barriers for licensed vocational nurses already serving in community settings; (2) a traditional BSN pathway that expands longitudinal community-based clinical education for pre-licensure students; and (3) an Entry-Level Master's (ELM) pathway providing career changers with community immersion, mentoring, and leadership development. Students train alongside providers at partner sites including Health Care Integrated Services (HCIS, operating 62 school-based health clinics across SPA 6 and San Diego County), Kedren Community Health Center, Together Mental Health, Argent Medical Group, and CDU's Mobile Health Unit. Goals and outcomes. BridgeRN will increase RNs prepared for community-based practice, improve preceptor readiness and mentoring, strengthen student confidence and clinical judgment, and support NCLEX-RN success, graduation, and retention in settings serving medically underserved populations. A unified data system will track progression, clinical-hour completion, licensure, and employment for standardized HRSA reporting. Funding Preference Requested — Qualification 2: Substantially Benefits Medically Vulnerable Populations. CDU requests a funding preference under Qualification 2. BridgeRN partners with clinical training sites that serve federally designated Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs) and Medically Underserved Populations (MUPs) including the federally qualified health centers operated by the school-based health clinics operated by HCIS throughout LA County SPA 6, and Kedren Community Health Center, TMH, Argent Medical Group and CDU’s Mobile Health Unit all in designated MUAs. Clinical training delivered at these sites directly and substantially benefits medically vulnerable populations, satisfying the criteria for this preference. By graduating RNs confident and competent in community-based practice, BridgeRN expands and strengthens the nursing workforce serving the medically underserved communities of South Los Angeles and beyond.
