Gundersen Lutheran forms partnership with UW-Madison

La Crosse Tribune, Apr 03, 2002 by Rindfleisch, Terry

Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center has been named the western campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing and will provide a fulltime nursing school education in La Crosse, officials announced Tuesday.

Fourteen students accepted into the UW-Madison nursing program will attend nursing school at Gundersen Lutheran starting in the fall of 2003.

Students will have their clinical experiences at Gundersen Lutheran, and they will take some courses from UW-Madison instructors via satellite long-distance learning at the Health Science Center in La Crosse. Gundersen Lutheran nursing specialists also will teach classes.

Katharyn May, dean of UW-Madison's nursing school, said the partnership with Gundersen Lutheran is the first of its kind in the Midwest. May said Gundersen Lutheran has "crafted an extraordinary vision" to expand opportunities for its nursing staff and UW-Madison nursing students.

May said Gundersen Lutheran is committed to academic excellence and "cutting edge clinical practice" in a rich educational and research environment.

Students will attend UW-Madison, UW-L or other schools to earn general requirements toward a college degree. They then would apply for nursing school, and if accepted would start nursing school as juniors. If they are accepted into Gundersen Lutheran's program, they would spend their two years in nursing school in La Crosse and receive a UW-Madison degree.

May said UW-Madison's nursing school has to turn away 60 to 70 qualified candidates every year. Now some of them can go to nursing school at Gundersen Lutheran.

"This partnership will provide an opportunity to establish an innovative model of nursing education, address the nursing work force crisis and strengthen the professional development and research/scholarship activities at both institutions," May said.

Lee-Ellen Kirkhorn, Gundersen Lutheran's administrative director of nursing education and research, said the designation of Gundersen Lutheran as a nursing school satellite should help recruit and retain the best quality nurses with a projected nursing shortage in the near future.

She said nurses tend to stay in the area where they are trained, so she hopes more nurses trained at Gundersen Lutheran practice in the Coulee Region.

Gundersen Lutheran nurses will have educational and research opportunities, and some will become UW-Madison nursing faculty members, Kirkhorn said.

Kirkhorn said the nursing school designation should not negatively impact quality nursing programs at Viterbo University, Winona State University and Western Wisconsin Technical College. She said nursing students from other schools will continue to to have clinical experiences at Gundersen Lutheran.

Sue Beek, a Gundersen Lutheran pediatric cancer nurse clinician, said patients will benefit from evidence-based care, and hospital and clinic nurses will grow professionally, with educational and research opportunities.

Nurse researchers from UW-Madison already have worked with Gundersen Lutheran st aff on several projects, including advance care planning and end-of-life ethical decision-making. More UW-Madison professors will work with Gundersen Lutheran nurses on research projects.

The designation of Gundersen Lutheran as UW-Madison's nursing school western campus is similar to the UW Medical School naming the medical center its western clinical campus in 1996, said Dr. Arthur J. Ross III, director of education for Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation.