A $500,000 state grant will allow MiraCosta College to help reduce the shortage of registered nurses in North County by providing extra training to lower-level vocational nurses.
Professor Sue Simpson said the new program will be an important opportunity to "step up" for many of the region's vocational nurses, who are not allowed to provide intravenous medication and perform other key nursing tasks reserved for registered nurses.
Beginning in summer 2007, MiraCosta will admit 36 vocational nurses per year to a two-semester program that will lead to an associate's degree and a license as a registered nurse. To be eligible, applicants must be a licensed vocational nurse working in that field, said Simpson.
"The state has realized that there is a major need for vocational nurses to step up," said Simpson, who will direct the new program.
National surveys show that California ranks 49th out of 50 states with a ratio of 5.75 registered nurses per 1,000 residents. The ratio in North County is even lower, with 3.56 registered nurses per 1,000 residents.
The grant is among several the state has awarded this month to community colleges in an attempt to boost the number of nurses in California. Palomar College in San Marcos received a $395,000 grant to increase the number of students admitted to its registered nursing program each year from 72 to 92.
The nurses who complete the new MiraCosta program will be the first-ever registered nurses produced by the college, which has had only a vocational nursing curriculum for the past 40 years, said Simpson. The college will also continue with its vocational program, which admits 48 students per year, she said.
Victoria Munoz Richart, president of MiraCosta, said the grant will help the college continue its push to train more health care workers for the region.
"I think it's a brilliant idea and I was very excited when our nursing faculty approached me about it," said Richart. "I think it's something we should have done years ago, because it's an incredibly needed program for the region."
MiraCosta added training programs for surgical technicians and medical assistants last fall, and Richart said the college is committed to adding a full-blown registered nursing program similar to Palomar's in the next few years.
Instead of giving vocational nurses extra training, Palomar's registered nurse program admits high school graduates who have taken some required college science courses.
Richart said MiraCosta will soon seek federal grants to launch such a program at its satellite campus in Cardiff.
"If we are lucky and everything falls into place, the program could begin in 2008 or 2009," said Richart.
Professor Marty Essman said that Scripps Memorial Hospital, Encinitas, has expressed interest in helping get such a program off the ground at the Cardiff campus.
Essman, who directs the vocational nurse program at MiraCosta, said there is no registered nursing program on the coast between Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Point Loma Nazarene College.
"The talk is very preliminary, but the need is clear," said Essman.
Simpson said the new "step-up" program for vocational nurses will require the college to increase its full-time nursing faculty from five professors to seven. MiraCosta will also need to hire more part-time professors to teach classes, which will be conducted at night and on weekends.
Additionally, the college must purchase new training equipment and decide how to handle admissions, said Simpson, and sites for clinical training must be secured. An agreement for some training has already been worked out with Palomar Pomerado Health, she said.
The new program must also be approved by the state board of registered nurses, said Simpson.
Richart said the college is committed to funding the new program after the two-year state grant runs out. (source)
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