Advisory Council Meeting Minutes

September 12, 2006
Location: Flanagan Campus
Time of Meeting: 8:10am

In Attendance: John Aflague, Susan Agresta, Wendy Aranoff, Marilyn Asselin, Marcia Bliss, Michael Cunningham, Cheryl Dellafratte, Diane D’Errico, Jose Gonzalez, Marilyn Horan, Nancy Houle, Diane Labrie, Lois Ginsberg, Rosemary Wood, Helen Martin, Marie Martone, Jeanette Matrone, Maureen McGarry, Paulette Osterman, Michael Paruta, Ruth Ricciarelli, Marilynne Soscia, Jay Spitulnik, Ruth Sullivan, Paula Viau

Absent: Margaret Austin, Jason Berstein, Rebecca Burke, Carmela Falco, Aline Fournier, Dorothy Garman, Kathleen Gazzola, Hugh Hall, Donna Huntley-Newby, Joseph Dale, John Keimig, Maureen Maigret, Peggy Matteson, Jane Metzgar

Meeting Called to order by Jeanette Matrone at 8:10am.

Minutes from May 9 meeting approved by second motion.

TOPIC	Discussion	Outcome
1. Minutes of the last meeting, May 9, 2006	Approved by second motion.
2. Review of agenda: add items as necessary	Announcement from Michael Paruta of Women & Infants’ Hospital informing the group of a seminar that will be held on October 31, 2006 on the Butler Hospital campus. The topic is the Disappearing Health Care Workforce. All in attendance were invited to attend.
3. Report from Program Manager, Jeanette Matrone	Jeanette informed the group of her travels to 8 hospitals and the RI Health Care Association (RIHCA) and explained the great support she received from Hugh Hall, Al Santos and all of the hospital nurse executives. There are assorted difficulties with the Grant proposal: incumbent workers and professional education. At this meeting the DLT wanted to address the unemployed, the underemployed and the undereducated.	Ruth Sullivan suggested creating more defined career paths for those who are undereducated.
3A. Achievements since the last meeting	Jeanette introduced the new Health Science Coordinators, explaining their wealth of knowledge and prior experiences. There had been 97 other applicants for these positions. Jeanette Matrone gave an update on the interviewing and hiring of tutors, supplemental instructors, and adjunct faculty. There are many applicants and hiring is progressing well.
3B. External stakeholders’ interest and proposals	Jeanette discussed the Care New England Proposal: There are 32 employees from Care New England who are interested in nursing. Comments were made regarding the benefit of doing this: that there are millions of dollars spent by hospitals on temporary employees that will be lessened by the addition of these more experienced hospital employees. Jeanette explained that there are Rhode Island Hospital employees who are on the CCRI nursing waiting list. She is working with Rhode Island Hospital to create a relationship so that their nursing faculty could teach their students on the waiting list, with the cooperation of the existing CCRI faculty. Jeanette explained that there are Butler Hospital employees on the waiting list. Butler Hospital proposed a program to be implemented with CCRI which would use internal MSNs to teach clinical labs.	The proposal was accepted and has been implemented.
3C. Allied health Laboratories and upgrade, Jeanette Matrone	Jeanette explained that the nursing labs in the Flanagan Campus, the Knight Campus and the Providence Campus have been upgraded with new computers. They are also awaiting the arrival of permanent laser printers.
3D. Clinical Placement Software, Diane Labrie	Diane Labrie discussed the topic of clinical placement software. She explained that the goal in this regard is to insure the quality of clinical experience and to streamline clinical placement for students. There was a question as to whether this software would be expanded to other state schools.	This would only be valuable if the state schools can obtain all of the participants in the program as well as obtaining their own grants for this purpose. Dean McGarry offered her assistance in meeting with the schools to discuss this topic.
3E. DLT opportunities, Jeanette Matrone/DLT
4. Report from Maureen McGarry	Dean McGarry spoke to encourage everyone to come up with more ideas and forward them along despite their achievability. She added her praise for the progress and accomplishments made by Jeanette Matrone and the Health Care Futures Grant. Dean McGarry suggested weeding out the wait list, eliminating those who should no longer be on it. Diane LaBrie mentioned that her data shows that there are currently 1,215 students currently on the wait list.
5. Report from HARI, Ruth Ricciarelli	Ruth Ricciarelli announced that she was approached by URI to discuss the possibility of sponsoring their student nurse's Welcome Back. Ruth explained that the welcoming environment in the industry is so important to student nurses. There is a new grant under proposal addressing short term and immediate workforce development. This grant will address Strategic Planning, Sustainability of the Workforce, and a Nursing Issues Workgroup.	It was suggested that any schools interested in this should approach HARI, which will help with grant objectives.
6. Additional discussion, Advisory Council	Dr. Jose Gonzales from the Providence School Department discussed the fact that there are many students who are interested in health science but that there is not enough exposure to health science technology. Dr. Gonzales added that he believes this would increase the high school graduate rates, at least in the Providence School system.	Jeanette agreed that there is a need to organize a better relationship with high school students throughout the state and offered to meet with the CCRI president about this.

The next meeting is scheduled for November 14, 2006 at 8:00 am in the Rear Faculty Dining Room on the Flanagan Campus.

Minutes taken by Susan Agresta.