NEWLY FUNDED COLLABORATIVE EXPECTED TO EASE NURSING SHORTAGE

South Carolina Nurse, The, Apr-Jun 2003 by Stuart, Gail

CHARLESTON, SC-The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has been successful in raising $4 million earmarked to increase the number of baccalaureate, master's and doctoral prepared nurses in South Carolina. The funds will set up the South Carolina Nursing Collaborative, the goal of which is to ease the severe nursing shortage in South Carolina.

The collaborative is a unique relationship between academic centers and the clinical facilities that would employee the centers' graduates.

The following clinical facilities have made financial commitments to the project: East Cooper Regional Medical Center in Mount Pleasant, Greenville Regional Medical Center, Hilton Head Medical Center & Clinics, the Medical University Hospital Authority in Charleston, McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, and the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston.

The Medical University Hospital Authority has been a leader among this group, providing the single largest contribution-$1 million over the next four years.

"The new funding will allow the MUSC College of Nursing to add eight new faculty members and develop online educational programs," said Gail Stuart, RN, Ph.D., dean of the College of Nursing, who engineered the collaboration.

Anticipated results of the collaboration follow:

* The number of students enrolled in the Medical University's College of Nursing baccalaureate program in Charleston will double. Currently the college can accommodate 50 new nursing students a year. There are approximately 200 qualified applicants vying for these 50 spots a year. Beginning next academic year the college will be able to accommodate 100 new students a year.

* The number of nursing students at MUSC's satellite program at Francis Marion College in Florence will increase. It is anticipated that, over time, enrollment in the baccalaureate nursing program will increase from 32 students a year to 40 a year.

* An online curriculum will be available in the fall of 2003 that will enable registered nurses in the state to obtain their bachelor's degree without leaving their current nursing position. Currently in South Carolina, two-thirds of registered nurses have a two-year rather than a four-year degree. Providing these nurses with the opportunity to get the four-year degree on-line will improve the quality of nursing care in the state.

* Other online curricula will be developed and made available in the fall of 2004 to enable working nurses to obtain master's degrees to prepare them for nursing administration and nursing education.

* Continuing education nursing programs throughout South Carolina will be expanded.

The participating clinical centers will work closely with the MUSC College of Nursing and the other academic centers collaborating in the program-Technical College of the Lowcountry in Beaufort and Hilton Head, Trident Technical College in Charleston and Florence-Darlington Technical College. Students from the academic centers will rotate through the participating institutions as part of their clinical training, and the clinical centers will have the opportunity to recruit students as they near completion of their academic programs.

"The South Carolina Nursing Collaborative is a winwin situation," said Conyers O'Bryan, M.D., a Florence physician and member of the MUSC board of trustees. "Dr. Stuart has come up with a creative solution to the nursing shortage in our state. The nursing schools will turn out more qualified nurses, and the participating hospitals will be able to fill their vacant nursing slots with well-qualified new graduates. The biggest winner will be the citizens of our state who will be able to enter a hospital in the future, knowing there will sufficient, well trained nurses to provide care. I envision this project becoming a national model."