| Cumberland
Medical Center Awarded Grant for Nursing Program
The Tennessee Hospital Association’s (THA) Center for Health
Workforce Development has awarded $135,000 in grants to several
hospitals and other entities in an effort to increase capacity and
enrollment in nursing programs to address the state’s current
workforce shortage.
“The intent of the grant program is to train, prepare and
support hospital nurse clinicians to become adjunct/part-time faculty
in state schools of nursing. Tennessee is facing a shortage of nurses
and other healthcare professionals, a problem that is projected
to steadily increase through 2020. It is just one of the center’s
initiatives that is designed to create an abundant, competent and
motivated healthcare workforce through statewide collaboration,
strategies and solutions,” explained Charlotte Burns, administrator,
Hardin Medical Center, Savannah, and chairman of the center’s
advisory committee.
THA President Craig A. Becker added, “These grants are a continuation
of our efforts to recruit and retain nurses and other allied health
professionals in Tennessee.”
Tennessee is projected to have the most critical nursing shortage
of all states by the year 2020, according to the Southern Regional
Education Board. Nationally, projected shortages could exceed 800,000
nurses. In 2004, approximately 6 percent of the registered nurse
positions in Tennessee's hospitals were unfilled.
“Cumberland Medical Center received a $25,000 grant as part
of the Health Workforce Development program, and we are very appreciative
to Debra Graham, RN, for her hard work in submitting this grant
proposal to THA on CMC’s behalf,” said Jim McMackin,
President/CEO of Cumberland Medical Center.
Cumberland Medical Center (CMC) and Roane State Community College
(RSCC) have entered into a partnership to address the shortage of
nursing faculty. CMC will provide clinical sites and instructors,
while RSCC will provide nursing students. This partnership now can
expand to include Tennessee Technological University (TTU) to promote
CMC adjunct faculty to master’s of science in nursing (MSN)
degrees through the TTU regent’s online degree program (RODP).
RSCC and TTU both have denied qualified nursing student applicants
(12 and 52 students, respectively) from their programs in 2005 due
to clinical faculty and facility limitations. CMC’s partnership
with these two colleges proposes opportunities for greater efficiency
by uniting the programs. CMC’s plan establishes a goal of
a 25 percent increase in RSCC graduate the first two years of implementation
and a 50 percent increase in enrollment in TTU’s RODP MSN
program in the first year of implementation.
THA, founded in 1938, serves as an advocate for hospitals, health
systems, home health agencies and other healthcare organizations
and the patients they serve. The association offers products and
services through THA Solutions Group, Inc. and the Tennessee Hospital
Education and Research Foundation, Inc., its nonprofit education
program.
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