Hospital directs funds to UCA nursing

CONWAY -- Faced with a "critical nursing shortage" nationwide, Conway Regional Health System announced Wednesday that it will provide $390,000 for nursing-student scholarships and other efforts at the University of Central Arkansas.

Matt Troup, the hospital's chief executive officer, said at a news conference that the money, donated through the hospital's foundation, will provide $240,000 for student scholarships and $150,000 for faculty development and School of Nursing initiatives.

Called the Partnership for Clinical Excellence, the joint effort will award a $2,500 scholarship to an average of eight students in UCA's School of Nursing. The hospital will grant the money over four semesters for the students, who will be selected by the hospital and UCA.

Those students must agree to work for Conway Regional for at least two years and pass license requirements, a joint news release said.

"Our hope is that this new program can help more students pursue their dream of becoming a nurse," Angie Longing, the hospital's chief nursing officer, said in the release.

Conway Regional said it will give the $150,000 in $50,000 sums over three years.

"As [longtime] neighbors and partners working together to positively impact this community and state, Conway Regional is proud to be a part of the solution to the growing demand for quality nurses," Troup said in the release.

Troup said that by 2020, it's estimated that almost half of the nation's nurses will reach retirement age.

"Health care providers across the country are looking for ways to tackle this critical nursing shortage, and we see this investment in education as an important step along with the added benefit of a focus on clinical best practice and other areas such as research and staff development," Troup added.

UCA President Houston Davis said at the news conference that the university will help "foster the next generation" of nurses.

Davis said UCA recognizes "the growing need for quality nursing graduates" in Arkansas and the region.

"Our leadership role in nursing will only increase as we partner in growth and development with the industry," he said in the release.

The January 2012 issue of the American Journal of Medical Quality carried a report projecting a nursing shortage between 2009 and 2030 "with the most acute shortages in the South and West," according to the release.

Susan Gatto, director of UCA's School of Nursing, said "the shortage of nursing faculty is just as critical as the shortage of nurses, if not more so."

"This initiative will help support the retention of current faculty and recruitment of other faculty here at UCA," she said in the release.

UCA spokesman Fredricka Sharkey said in an email that 3,287 students are enrolled in the university's College of Health and Behavioral Sciences. She said 215 of those students are seeking bachelor's degrees in science and nursing, and UCA has more than 400 students in all of its nursing programs.

State Desk on 03/15/2018

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