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New Mexico Schools Partner on Nurse Training Programs
Eastern New Mexico University and Clovis Community College have received a joint $3.4 million U.S. Department of Education grant to enhance their nurse training programs, the Clovis News Journal reports. The grant was made available to schools that have more than a 25 percent Hispanic student population. The institutions will use the grant to increase the number of nurses in the region, as well as to bolster their training programs. Each school will annually receive $700,000, and the university will also receive administration funding. The schools were able to apply for the grant jointly because the community college offers a two-year R.N. program, and the university offers the third- and fourth-year bachelor of science (BSN) in nursing program. Noting that "there is a great shortage of nurses who complete a BSN," the university's executive director of Planning and Analysis says some of the grant money will be used to train instructors and advisors to help smooth the transition between the programs in an effort to produce more nurses with a BSN and ease the shortage of nurses qualified for entry-level nurse management. Commenting on the partnership, an administrator at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis says that "it should produce a higher trained nurse and it increases the potential for them to use specialty nurses (Castillo, Clovis News Journal, 9/29/09).