A health care industry recruitment effort to reduce a critical nursing shortage
was an apparent success. Applications are flooding the Community College of
Rhode Island, which has New England’s largest nursing program, resulting in
a waiting list in the hundreds.
Students can wait two to three semesters to get into their first nursing course, the college said.
Kent Hospital is taking the matter into its own hands.
Starting in the fall, up to eight Kent Hospital staffers at a time will work toward a CCRI associate’s degree in nursing right at the hospital, doing their crucial clinical work under the tutelage of Kent nurse Barbara Laraway.
Laraway, an oncology nurse at Kent with a master’s degree and extensive professional experience, was chosen for the job by Kent education director Marilyn Asselin and then vetted by CCRI, which helped her prepare for her new duties.
Kent pays Laraway, whose new title is clinical nursing instructor. It will also serve as the main site for the seven students’ clinical work, which is the core of CCRI’s nursing program – 15 of the 20 hours per week required for each semester’s main course, Maureen E. McGarry, dean of health and rehabilitative sciences, said. For classroom work, the Kent workers will go to CCRI, and take their courses with all the other nursing students, Asselin said.
The program started Sept. 7, with seven Kent employees who had been on CCRI’s waitlist. For the first three weeks, Asselin said, Laraway is working with them in a lab at CCRI, covering basic skills. Then they will spend three weeks in a nursing home. The balance of the semester they will work in a surgical unit at Kent. Throughout the course, and in more advanced courses in the following three semesters, they will learn key job skills from how to assess patients’ condition, to how to administer medication, to how to use different kinds of hospital equipment, Asselin said.
If all goes well, the students will be ready for the registered nurse licensing exam by May 2006, Asselin said. Kent also has two tuition assistance programs, so much of the cost will be covered. The seven students have all signed agreements to work at Kent for some time after graduation, Asselin said, though she wouldn’t specify how long.
That’s only half of Kent’s initiative, however. In line with a national trend to encourage a more sophisticated education for nurses, Kent is encouraging its RNs to pursue bachelor’s degrees through another collaboration, with Salve Regina University.
While associate’s degree nursing programs such as CCRI’s focus on hands-on skills, Asselin said, bachelor’s programs provide a “broader perspective,” with more science, sociology, and “leadership skills” that enable nurses to play more substantial roles in their work places.
So even as Laraway helps prepare new RNs, 45 of Kent’s roughly 350 current RNs are taking their education to the next level through Salve. The Newport university has recently changed its curriculum to make it easier for RNs to earn a bachelor of science in nursing degree, Asselin said, and Kent has made a special deal with Salve to offer classes at the hospital. This semester, two sections of a nursing course and one general-education course are being offered.
“The response that we received from our staff was phenomenal,” she said. “They were very, very pleased with this. We have a nursing staff that has a great deal of caring values and motivation to really move on to a professional education in nursing, and this provided a unique opportunity.”
The Salve program also fits well with Kent’s general effort to give nurses a stronger voice in patient care. Under Brydie Jo Baker, vice president for patient care services, five councils have been created to oversee clinical practice, quality issues, professional development, etc., and about 60 nurses are involved.
Baker said the new programs are a “win-win” for the hospital and its staff, and will make it a more appealing place to work for existing staff and new recruits alike.
“If we provide a humanistic professional work environment, hopefully we can retain people, and it’s also something we can tell job applicants about,” Baker said. “The number is small, but the impact should multiply.”
