Cypress College just got a chunk of cash to help take a bite out of California’s nursing shortage.
The community college’s nursing program received $1.7 million from the Department of Labor to find students and help them go from being certified nursing assistants to registered nurses.
“There is a tremendous shortage of nurses such that we are truly at a healthcare crisis level,” said Andrea Hannon, the college’s dean of health science, in a release.
The money could help “community partners” of Cypress College by providing them with nurses, Hannon said.
Those partners include the Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, which has a hospital in Anaheim, Long Beach Veterans’ Administration Hospital and Bristol Park Medical Group.
Cypress College is working with California State University, Long Beach, to implement the grant program. Under the grant, Cal State Long Beach plans to identify students who are interested in and qualified to become nurses.
Students then would take general education courses at Cypress College. English, anatomy, physiology, microbiology and healthcare concepts in nursing are set to be requirements.
The grant should provide enough money for more professors and support so the students can complete their classes as a single group, according to Cypress College.
The community college also is set to provide advanced coursework for some 30 licensed vocational nurses who are looking to become registered nurses.
Cypress College’s grant came through the Department of Labor’s Learning Communities for Nursing and Health Care project.
In all, some $125 million worth of grants are being awarded to 70 community colleges in 40 states as part of an initiative announced during President Bush’s 2004 State of the Union address.
Cypress College, founded in 1966, has 15,000 enrolled students.
The nursing shortage, along with other related issues, has been a buzz topic for several years now in California, leading to efforts by hospitals in Orange County and throughout the state to offer signing bonuses and other incentives in order to lure nurses.
The situation has pushed nursing salaries in OC to an average of $67,156 from $50,810 in 1998.
Quality Ratings More Accepted
When Cypress-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. published its first healthcare report card a few years ago, some hospital representatives grumbled. The ratings include various quality, safety and patient-satisfaction measures at hospitals.
Today, the hospitals appear to have mellowed, according to Sam Ho, PacifiCare’s executive vice president and chief medical officer.
“We have a lot less objection now in 2005 than we did in 2002, when we were kind of a lone voice in the wilderness,” Ho said.
“With hospitals, the tone and content of the discussions has changed from why should we have report cards and basically intense criticism” to one about making sure such ratings are more consistent and use common measures, he said.
The company started issuing hospital report cards with a couple of objectives in mind, according to Ho.
PacifiCare, which is being bought for $8.1 billion by Minnesota’s UnitedHealth Group Inc., wanted to provide members with health information along with “a way for providers, hospitals as well as physician groups, to compete amongst themselves to improve quality and manage costs more effectively,” Ho said.
Bits and Pieces:
About 4,000 attendees, including some 1,700 doctors, are gathering in Anaheim to participate in the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology’s annual meeting, which runs through Wednesday at the Anaheim Convention Center. Some of the topics set to be discussed: asthma in women; asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment and the changing role of endoscopic sinus surgery Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital, Newport Beach, said it received several five-star ratings in various patient care categories by HealthGrades, a provider of hospital ratings. Those ratings included coronary interventional procedures, total hip replacement surgery, spinal fusion surgery and gastrointestinal surgery and procedures UCI Medical Center in Orange and the ALS Association’s Orange County chapter opened a comprehensive clinic for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the Gottschalk Medical Plaza on the University of California, Irvine’s campus. ALS is also known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease” because the New York Yankees’ legendary first baseman brought national attention to it Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc., Irvine, received an award for “best new branded pharmaceutical product introduction” in 2005 from the Healthcare Distribution Management Association for Xibrom, which is used to prevent inflammation after eye surgery.
