Chad Muse, Campus President, Denver College of Nursing

Invest: spoke with Chad Muse, campus president of Denver College of Nursing, about the Houston campus’ role in addressing the region’s nursing workforce shortage, the importance of clinical partnerships, and how student expectations are changing. “We wouldn’t exist without partnerships,” Muse said.

What changes over the past year have impacted Denver College of Nursing and your Houston campus?

The biggest change, when you look at the sector and the area overall, is the demand for skilled nurses. There is definitely a gap between the needs of the community and the availability of qualified nurses. We are seeing that on the front end with interest in nursing schools. It has impacted us positively and allows us to graduate more individuals to help supply that need, but we cannot cover it all. There is still a gap, even with what we do.

What role does Denver College of Nursing play in helping address the region’s nursing talent gap?

Our role is basically to help meet the needs of the community. We have an aging population, and I believe there will be an estimated shortfall of around 50,000-plus nurses in Texas by 2032. Every nurse we graduate helps decrease that number.

Our part in addressing it is finding individuals who want to pursue nursing as a profession, making sure they are set up for success, and giving them a valuable education so they can pass the NCLEX exam and go out there and directly contribute.

How is the college strengthening partnerships with healthcare systems and community organizations?

We wouldn’t exist without partnerships. Part of the educational journey for our students is clinical experience. Their education includes didactic learning, which is classroom instruction from the faculty member to the student. We also have a high-fidelity simulation lab where we can simulate healthcare scenarios for nursing situations on campus.

The biggest part is that our students go out to clinical sites. Those include regional hospital systems, local memory care centers, school districts, and other partners ranging from small clinics to the biggest systems. Our students get hands-on, real-world experience. Without the partnerships and without the support of the local healthcare system, we would not be able to provide the graduates needed to address the gap.

What investments have been made in labs, technology, and hands-on learning environments?

We are only about three to four years in as a campus in Houston. Our first class was in 2023, a little bit before I joined as campus president. We stood up the campus with high-fidelity mannequins. These are not like mannequins in a store. They can give vital signs, they can talk, and we have one called Victoria that gives birth.

We have a realistic laboratory simulation environment. Students participate in simulations while a faculty member runs the mannequins, changes the vital signs, and speaks as the patient through a microphone. We also record the simulations. After students complete them, they can watch the playback. We have invested in AV capability for recording and playback, but more importantly, in the actual equipment needed to provide a high-quality educational experience.

We have four high-fidelity labs, from pediatrics and newborn care all the way up to an adult mannequin that can simulate a geriatric environment.

How does simulation training benefit students?

It is amazing what you can do. You can simulate the same kinds of things students may encounter in a clinical environment. The benefit is that, in a clinical environment, students are learning skills, but they are often waiting for things to happen. In simulation, we can create situations such as someone coding or a major medical emergency that you would not wish upon anyone. Students might encounter that in the field, but it may not happen during their clinical shift. In simulation, we can create that environment for them to learn how to function.

What trends are you seeing in nursing education, and how are student expectations changing?

I have been in education for 20 years, and students have changed massively. When you look at the curriculum and delivery, students are different post-COVID. They need more hands-on support, and we provide tutoring support.

It is about the holistic experience. If you rewind the clock 20 years, the experience was the classroom. Students were expected to show up to class, do the clinicals, and move on. Now they are looking for the classroom experience plus additional one-on-one support from faculty, which we provide. They are also looking for additional activities.

Through Global Health Perspectives, we have sent students to Guatemala, Costa Rica, and other geographical areas to do international outreach and earn clinical hours. The biggest trend is making sure you deliver value in education. Students are not looking at it as just a transaction where they pay tuition and receive an education. They want more of an experience. That is good, and it benefits them academically because those experiential elements add value to what we bring in the classroom.

What student support programs do you have, particularly around mental health and wellness?

We have a program similar to an EAP program for employees, where students can access mental health support, counseling services, legal services, and support for issues outside school. We also have an in-house student support person who does outreach.

We track students weekly. We have a benchmark for academic success, and anyone performing below that benchmark receives proactive outreach from us. We are definitely seeing an uptick in anxiety and accommodation needs among students. We have external third-party support that we can refer them to. Students can receive complimentary mental health counseling and be directed to local resources if they need additional help. If they need legal support or housing support, that same service can help them.

What I tell students is that we are not successful if they are not successful. We will do everything but take the test for them and pass the class for them. We give them what they need to be successful outside of that.

What initiatives are in place to make nursing education more attainable for a diverse range of students?

We have an in-house scholarship program. We give about $25,000 a quarter to students with financial need who apply for scholarships. Beyond that, our students benefit from local organizations as well. One example is with the Good Samaritan Foundation, which is a Houston-based nonprofit.

Good Samaritan provides nursing scholarships and also recognizes current nurses. They are not only providing funds for students; they are recognizing nurses who are out there practicing and doing a lot of work.

We also have scholarship workshops and scholarship boards, and we work with students. The litmus test I hold myself to is at graduation, when I am shaking hands, I want to be able to ask anyone, “Did you get more than your money’s worth?” I need the answer to be yes. If I ever feel we are not meeting that yes, we will go back to the drawing board and figure out what we can do better.

What are your key goals and priorities for the next year?

My key goal is to keep providing service to our students, supporting them, and graduating them. My personal goal is to graduate everyone who starts, but the reality is that nursing school is difficult, so that is not always an attainable goal.

My goal is to keep doing what we are doing, which is graduating students who contribute to the community through what they learn here in nursing. I operate from a raving fans approach. I want them wearing the T-shirt. I want them arguing that Denver College of Nursing is better than whatever school their coworker went to. That has been my personal goal since I started, and it has not changed.

The best is based on what we do, the student experience, and the results they get from what we provide.