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Community College of Rhode Island
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| Nursing I student Gebemisola Olufasola (L) checks vital signs on "SimMan," a virtual patient teaching tool, while Assistant Professor Rosemary Costigan, R.N., M.S. (center) and fellow Nursing I student Melissa Sullivan (R) look on. |
CCRI awarded $1.8 million to enhance health care programs
Funds will expand student support, faculty development, clinical education
October 2005 is a month Dean Maureen McGarry and her colleagues won’t soon forget. On October 22, CCRI’s grant application was accepted—garnering CCRI’s Health & Rehabilitative Sciences programs $1.8 million in federal funding over the next three years.
CCRI is the state’s major educator of allied health and nursing professionals, and college faculty and staff know first hand the challenges of recruiting to these in-demand fields. State figures project a 25 percent increase in new health care jobs from 2002 to 2012, many of these in high-vacancy fields such as cardio-respiratory care, clinical laboratory technology, dental hygienists, dental assisting and rehabilitative health (see table below). Adding to that challenge is the rapid rate at which health care knowledge is growing and changing. Studies estimate that health care knowledge is doubling every five years, making faculty development and recruitment an ongoing priority in a field with a severe shortage of qualified instructors. “From a student perspective, health programs require more complex courses and the sequence in which to enroll can be confusing,” adds McGarry, referencing state licensure requirements, limited clinical training sites and other factors detailed in the grant application.
A National Issue, A Local Collaboration
CCRI is among 70 community colleges in 39 states selected by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training to expand and strengthen programs in professions with staff shortages. The grant establishes the CCRI Health Care Futures Program, a joint effort between CCRI and the Hospital Association of RI, Care New England Health System, Landmark Medical Center, RI Department of Education (RIDE) and RI’s Workforce Investment system. The collaboration empowers CCRI to utilize the resources of our grant partners in the areas of recruitment, training and skill building.
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“Health care careers require preparation and education beyond the walls and classrooms of CCRI,” notes Ruth Sherman, vice president of Academic Affairs. “This collaboration formalizes partnerships that will strengthen programs to benefit our students, faculty, and the community,” adds McGarry.
Through the partnership CCRI will tackle three main challenges to meet workforce demand: student enrollment and retention, faculty development opportunities, and expanding clinical training sites.
Success through Support
The first challenges that the grant will help address are barriers to student recruitment, persistence (students remaining year to year) and graduation. “Preparing students for career paths, particularly in health care, is a community endeavor,” notes McGarry. “Recruitment starts in the public schools with better career awareness.”
CCRI enrolls 600-700 new students in its health care programs each year, with a total annual enrollment of 1,500. “Entry into our nursing program is the most sought after program in terms of sheer numbers, while other very attractive career opportunities in allied health fields are under-enrolled,” comments Sherman. “Through this grant we will expand student awareness about our well-paying allied health career areas.”
“Incumbent in our open enrollment process is the need to provide students with more support,” explains McGarry, adding that many students are put off by the complexity of the criteria to enroll, educate and get certified in these fields. “We plan on offering them support in these areas, and by doing so, help them navigate the course load requirements through clinical training.”
A big piece of the student support will take place at the college’s four Success Centers. “We will be tailoring services specifically designed to address health care students, such as tutoring, study skills, academic advising, career counseling, and mentoring,” explains Ruth Sullivan, dean of Learning Resources and overseer of the colleges four Success Centers. “From our perspective, it will be a people-intensive effort,” notes Sullivan, who plans on hiring specialized tutors—not just peer tutors—to provide instruction both in the Success Centers and the classrooms. These subject specialists will provide “supplemental instruction in class as an ongoing resource for students.” For example, nursing students will be able to receive support in foundation subjects such as anatomy and physiology. “Clearly there will be a planning phase where we determine where the support is most needed for each program.”
Kimberly Crealey Rouillier is chair of the Rehabilitative Health Department which includes physical therapist assistant, occupational therapist assistant and therapeutic massage programs. “The needs of our programs are unique,” explains Rouillier. “Our programs have always been aggressive course-wise, with a lot of material to learn in a two-year time format. Often general education courses are taken concurrently with core course requirements.”
Rouillier points out that much of CCRI’s allied health student population are older students—often in their 30s. “For many students this is a second career. We are educating students who have been out of the educational environment for some time, and need help with basic study skills.” On top of that, she adds, many students have to integrate learning into already busy lives. “Now they need to squeeze in an additional two hours to study between family and work.” Other students may not have the foundation academically, having never excelled in school, and “all of a sudden they are in programs where they understand the material, but can’t express themselves in writing.”
Rouillier sees the grant as helping retain students, by providing additional testing, strategy, tutoring and mentoring. She notes that the programs may be especially difficult for students for whom English is a second language. “That’s a huge issue—these are the people who would be very valuable in the health care system. We need to identify them early on in order to offer them more support and keep them in the program,” she adds.
A Sampling of Health and Rehabilitative Science Programs offered by CCRI
Allied Health
Cardio-Respiratory Care
Clinical Laboratory
Technology
Diagnostic Medical Sonography
(Certificate)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(Certificate)
Phlebotomy (Certificate)
Radiography
Renal Dialysis (Certificate)
Dental Health
Dental Assisting
(Certificate)
Dental Hygiene
Nursing
Associate Degree Nursing (RN)
Emergency Medical Technician
(EMT)
Fire Science
Practical Nursing (LPN)
Rehabilitative Health
Occupational Therapy
Assistant
Physical Therapist Assistant
Therapeutic Massage
Emergency/Disaster Management (Certificate)
CPR
Lela Morgan, chair of the Allied Health Department, hopes the grant will help get the word out about under-enrolled programs. Morgan’s department includes the radiography, medical resonance imaging, diagnostic medical sonography, cardio-respiratory care, clinical laboratory technology, phlebotomy, and renal dialysis programs. “There is a lot of demand for allied health professionals. I’m getting calls every week from potential employers looking for practitioners in the various allied health fields,” notes Morgan. These employers are looking for practitioners who have the proper credentials and licenses to work in Rhode Island. “We need to educate potential students about these careers,” continues Morgan. “Most people know about fields such as x-ray technology, but don’t realize there are many other professions the health care system couldn’t function without.” Morgan sees the grant as a way to ramp up efforts to recruit students with an aptitude in science, and streamline how people get the information they need to enroll.
Kathleen Gazzola, Chair of dental health programs and director of dental hygiene, sees the grant as providing a three-pronged benefit, beginning with providing tutoring and mentoring during pre-admission courses, “particularly in science and courses that are general education requirements.” Second, “to be able to bring in graduates as tutors in the core dental sciences curriculum would be an immense benefit, something we haven’t been able to do before."
“Looking down the road, dental hygiene and dental assisting are facing a crisis in future educators,” explains Gazzola. “We need to find ways to spark interest among our students to mentor and encourage them toward avenues to continue their education.”
Supporting Faculty
The second major challenge the grant will address is a shortage of qualified faculty. “Take fields that already have a shortage, add in the economics of health care salaries versus teaching salaries, and then licensure and state requirements,” notes McGarry, “and the puzzle begins to take shape.” In terms of recruiting nursing faculty, “we seek to build on the success of HARI's Colleagues-in-Caring program,” adds McGarry. This program helps CCRI identify future nurse educators among current students, and encourage them to continue their education.
In health care overall, statistics show knowledge doubles every five years, making professional development key to keeping all health care faculty current. Doris Aline Fournier, nursing program director, sees the grant as a way to provide more continuing education for faculty. “In this field, knowledge constantly changes. If a nurse is five years out of school with no intervening education, they are out of date and not able to safely practice nursing,” Fournier said. Professional development opportunities will help, by bringing in speakers and supporting conference attendance. Fournier adds, “We need to do everything we can to support nursing faculty, help retain and recruit them. If we don’t have faculty, we don’t have nurses.”
Another contributing factor is the diversity of Rhode Island’s population. “Faculty are being asked to meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds,” notes McGarry. “We need to provide professional development opportunities that reflect these population changes.”
Expanding Clinical Experiences
The third challenge the grant addresses is the shortage of clinical sites offering hands-on educational experiences for students. As Allied Health Director Lela Morgan explains, each site takes only two students at a time. “In Allied Health we have 7 sites just for one program – radiography - and we need more. In phlebotomy, we have 42 sites, each taking one or two students. In order to meet the clinical experience needs of our students, we are in just about every hospital in the state, says Morgan.
As McGarry explains, "By teaming up with several health care facilities, such as Landmark and Care New England, and also partnering with the Hospital Association of RI and the State, we can build in more support in this area.”
Vice President Sherman concludes, “We’re looking at the entire health care delivery system, to strengthen and develop a comprehensive system of recruiting, educating, supporting and graduating students in health care professions.” She views the grant as “an important vehicle for strengthening the continuum of our health care programs to lead to better entry, preparation, and ultimately, employment.”
