UMHC announces nursing collaboration
Kim Stonecypher, a UMHC clinical director, discusses the launch of the
Dedicated Education Units Partnership Program between the hospital and
the School of Nursing on March 22. The two-year collaboration will pair
nursing students with staff nurses for a more intensive, one-on-one
training experience. Stonecypher serves as project coordinator while Pat
Waltman, associate dean for academic affairs in the SON, serves as
clinical coordinator.
ICC students participate in dedicated unit project at NMMC
Itawamba Community College has recognized several associate degree nursing students who have participated in a dedicated education unit project at the North Mississippi Medical Center during the 2010 spring semester in an effort to better prepare graduates for the workforce.
ICC’s nursing graduates and their preceptors from the North Mississippi Medical Center were presented with gifts of appreciation during a recent luncheon at the Fulton campus. ICC was one of several statewide partners who identified the need in Mississippi to develop a project focusing on geriatric care. Led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation, Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future is in its fourth year of providing support to local foundations to act as catalysts in their own communities and develop strategies for creating and sustaining a viable nursing workforce.
“This grant helped us expand our efforts to provide the students with the expertise of both staff nurses and faculty in a learning environment with a focus on geriatric care,” said Debbie Logan, Mississippi Office of Nursing Workforce healthcare workforce specialist, who spoke to ICC’s students at the luncheon. “We are community and we are friends. We can figure out what is better for health care and the well being of the state.”
The dedicated education unit allows staff nurses to serve as mentors or preceptors in the clinical setting, and the student nurses who participate can build on what they are taught in nursing school, Logan said. “I have talked with every group so far, and each tells me, ‘I can never go back to regular rotation.’ Thank you for being willing to go out and do something different.”
Participant Mary Elizabeth Stephens of Tupelo called the experience “a real confidence booster. We didn’t have to wait on our teacher. We could do what was necessary on our own.”
Instead of caring for different patients, student nurses were assigned to the same individuals. “They get used to you, and you get used to them,” said Steve Howell of Tupelo who agreed with Stephens that it was a confidence builder. The student nurses in the DEU program followed patients daily, not just for one day which is the norm. Mary Ann Fleming-Parker, ICC associate degree nursing instructor and DEU coordinator, said that the students were able to perform like nurses instead of student nurses. “Their competence led to more confidence. It’s not so much task-oriented. “
Those who served as clinical facilitators or preceptors agreed that instead of extra work, the student nurses provided extra help. “We love the students; we love to have you on our campus, NMMC staff agreed. “This program will help instill the love of patients and patient care in the students. It’s hard not to develop a relationship when you spend 12 hours a day with them.”
“This was a post celebration of all who were involved in the joint effort to assist in preparing our graduates for the workplace and an opportunity to evaluate other clinical teaching models that have been successful in nursing education,’ according to Lisa Lepard, associate dean of nursing education and the director of the associate degree nursing program. Other participants included John Keuven and Karlee Harmon, both of Tupelo; Eddie Ewing of Verona; Rita Plunkett and Denyetta Latham, both of Amory; and Tracey Gray of Fulton. Preceptors are Valerie Noflin, RN; Lee Fowler, RN; Misty Holley, RN; Vanessa Berry, RN; Rachael Owens, RN; Kelsey Allen, RN; Nikeita Moore, RN; and Mark Grubbs, RN.
CUTLINE: ICC nursing graduates and their preceptors include front, Valerie Noflin RN; Nikeita Moore RN, Denyetta Latham; second row, Vanessa Berry RN, Eddie Ewing, Steve Howell; third row, Racheal Owens RN, Karlee Harmon, John Keuven; fourth row, Kelsey Allen RN, Tracy Gray, Mary Elizabeth Stephens; fifth row, Rita Plunkett; back, Toni Burnett RN, Misty Holley RN and Lee Fowler RN
August 16, 2008
The Mississippi Office of Nursing Workforce hosted a press conference at the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Nursing on August 26, 2008 to launch www.iTeachnursingMS.org. The press conference was held at 11:00am in the foyer of the School of Nursing with a reception following.The website is a comprehensive resource for connecting nurses interested in teaching and becoming an educator in Mississippi schools of nursing. This initiative is just one innovation to address and reduce the nursing faculty shortage. The site was developed under the Mississippi Critical Nursing Faculty Shortage Initiative, a Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future grant funded by the Robert Wood Johnson, Northwest Health Foundation, Mississippi Department of Employment Security, the Mississippi Hospital Association Health, Research and Education Foundation and the Mississippi Office of Nursing Workforce. For an overview of the project, please see the two attachments: PIN Fact Sheet – 2006 and PIN Fact Sheet – 2007.
Current analysis reveals a projected nursing faculty vacancy rate of 23.9% by the end of 2007-2008 academic years, an average faculty age of greater than 55, and faculty recruitment difficulties primarily due to salaries below regional and national averages. In addition to faculty statistics, the RN population’s average age is over 45. Overall, Mississippi hospitals have a 7.7% staff RN vacancy rate, an 8% projected increase in demand over the next two years, and a 22% turnover rate. In long term care, Mississippi averages a 7.4% RN vacancy rate, a 8.2% LPN vacancy rate and a turnover rate of greater than 50% for RNs and LPNs.