Fall 2006

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College of Nursing and Lovelace Health System Team Up to Add Nurses

by Aaron Martinez

When UNM College of Nursing Dean Sandra Ferketich met earlier this year with Ron Stern, the president and CEO of Lovelace Health System, they both felt something is making them sick--the shortage of nurses in New Mexico.

To treat the ailment, Ferketich and Stern decided that the college and Lovelace should work together to further develop and educate nurses studying in New Mexico. With a busy faculty working at maximum capacity, the college didn’t have the means to add more professors; therefore for the next two years, Lovelace is funding three master clinicians who will instruct UNM students during their clinical rotations.

In addition to providing moreteachers for the College, Lovelace donated $20,000 to continue faculty education. The gift will keep faculty abreast of trends and changes in health care to meet the demographic needs of patients in New Mexico.

In assisting faculty at the College, the three master clinicians will instruct up to 24 additional students each semester. Each clinician will guide eight students through rotations. The students will have the opportunity to rotate through one of the Lovelace hospitals in Albuquerque or, depending on the student’s requirements, through a Lovelace health care center.

“This partnership between Lovelace and the University is a win-win for all of us,” Stern says. “This allows the UNM College of Nursing to increase its student capacity, providing a new generation of badly needed RNs for our state’s hospitals, as well as providing our system the opportunity to show nurses what we have to offer.”

As an educator working with newly hired nurses at Lovelace, Julie Laybourne knows exactly what is in store for the students during their rotations.

“This is the real thing,” says Laybourne, who now works in medical surgical nursing at Lovelace. “The clinicians will take these students into settings with real patients who have real needs. It really adds an essential element to their education.”

While the students gain the benefit of having an actual hospital employee from the clinical setting to facilitate learning, the baccalaureate nursing education program at UNM incorporates a master teacher to instruct students in the classroom. The master teachers serve as teaching and curriculum links for the master clinicians, ensuring that students get a thorough education.

“It’s an advantageous situation for everyone who’s involved,” Laybourne said. “The students get teachers, the hospitals get qualified nurses, and best of all, we get better health care.”