Accreditation and History of the College

Accreditation

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing (BSMCON) is owned by Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, which is responsible for the College’s operation. BSMCON is certified to operate by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and the Virginia Board of Nursing (VBON). The College holds institutional accreditation with the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). The BSN program includes the essential content recommended by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The baccalaureate degree in nursing at Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing is programmatically accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing (BSMCON) participates in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). NC- SARA is a voluntary, regional approach to state oversight of distance education.

Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools

6116 Executive Blvd.

Suite 730

North Bethesda, MD 20852

(301) 291-7550

American Association of Colleges of Nursing Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education

655 K Street, NW

Suite 750

Washington, DC 20001

(202) 887-6791

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia

101 N. 14th Street

10th Floor

James Monroe Building

Richmond, VA 23219

(804) 225-2600

U.S. Department of Education

400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20202

(800) 872-5327

Virginia Board of Nursing

9960 Mayland Drive

Suite 300

Henrico, VA 23233

(804) 367-4400

History of the College

The College’s rich history dates back to the formation of Richmond Memorial Hospital in 1957. The hospital was built to memorialize the Richmond community’s World War II victims and to provide a general hospital that served people of all races and backgrounds, regardless of their ability to pay. Richmond Memorial Hospital’s School of Nursing opened in 1961 to serve as a source of nurses for the hospital and to raise the level of health care in the community. In 1993, a replacement hospital for Richmond Memorial was planned in collaboration with Bon Secours. The new hospital, Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, opened in 1998. The school was renamed the Bon Secours Memorial School of Nursing.

The College graduated the last diploma class in May 2012. During its 51 years of operation, the diploma program produced more than 2,000 registered nurses who have delivered exceptional health care to their patients as a result of the excellent educational foundation they received. In response to the need to prepare registered nurses at the baccalaureate level of education, the school officially changed its status to a baccalaureate degree-granting college in 2010.

Firmly rooted in this tradition of excellence, the College offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) with both pre-licensure and post-licensure (RN-BSN) programs. The BSN program includes the essential curricular content recommended by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. The College is dedicated to facilitating a view and practice of health care as a ministry that anticipates the need to adapt to the ever-changing and demanding health care environment in order for our graduates to provide the highest quality care.

Bon Secours is a Catholic, nonprofit, community-based health care system whose mission is to provide “good help to those in need.” The Sisters of Bon Secours (French for “good help”), an international religious congregation devoted to the care of the poor and sick, was founded in Paris, France in 1824. In the United States, the congregation’s health care ministries, which merged with Mercy Health in 2018 to become Bon Secours Mercy Health, include acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, clinics, physicians’ practices, home health care services and hospices.