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History
Vision
Mission
Partners
Accomplishments
Accomplishments
First Initiative: Expansion of the College of DuPage Nursing Program
Outcome: Phase One Completed
Expansion of the C.O.D. Nursing program utilizing nurse-instructors from
partner hospitals to increase the program by an additional 25 students. Began as a pilot program
in January 2005. Hospitals also accommodated additional clinical rotations
into their facilities. Twenty-two nurses from area health care organizations
were hired under the "leased" faculty model or as adjunct faculty
to teach for C.O.D.
• Accommodated additional qualified students.
• Built a pipeline of nurses for area health care employers.
• Addressed lack of resources: classrooms, lab space, clinical sites
and suffucient number of qualified faculty.
• The DAHLC formed sub-committees to address resource issues.
Second Initiative: Part-Time 'Leased'
Faculty Model Program – College
of DuPage
Outcome: Phase One Completed
A shortage of registered professional nurses has been well-documented
both nationally and in Illinois. Colleges have experienced a shortage
of qualified Registered Nurses to serve as college faculty members. The
faculty lease agreement empowers hospitals to "lease" employees
who have an MSN or higher and a major in Nursing to serve as faculty at
the college. The services are provided at the request of the college,
and are under the supervision of the college's School of Nursing director.
The hospital and college enter into a contractual relationship temporarily where hospital master's-prepared nursing staff serve as faculty. The leased faculty is expected to abide by the policies, procedures, rules and regulations of the college while performing services for the college.
College of DuPage and the DAHLC share their faculty lease agreement program with other schools. The faculty lease agreement has existed for over three years, with plans to disseminate the program statewide. This model is now being utilized at other DAHLC academic partner organizations, such as NIU and Aurora University, and is also being utilized by other organizations throughout the metro region of Chicago.
Third Initiative: Radiation Therapy
Program – College
of DuPage
Outcome: Completed
Responding to an increased need for well-trained radiation therapists
in the health care community, College of DuPage established a new Radiation
Therapy Advanced Certificate program in fall 2006. There are fewer than 100 similar accredited programs available nationwide.
The one-year certificate
program is available to graduates of an accredited Radiography or Nuclear
Medicine program. The Radiation Therapy program at C.O.D. incorporates the National Radiation Therapy curriculum established by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT). Students who earn this certificate are eligible to sit for the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) national certification exam.
Students enrolled in the program must attend full-time.
The clinical portion of the program takes place during the day, with
classroom work completed in the evening. Fourteen students at College of DuPage were the first to graduate from the Radiation Therapy Advanced Certificate program in July 2007. All of the graduates who passed the exam found employment in their field shortly after graduation and completing their licensure boards. Fourteen additional students are currently enrolled and are expected to graduate in July 2008.
Subcommittees and Task Forces
Faculty Development Subcommittee – Goal:
Develop a model for allowing hospital staff to serve as faculty for
C.O.D. students.
Outcomes for 2006 Initiatives:
• A Curriculum Delivery project was developed by one full-time C.O.D.
nurse faculty member as a contribution from C.O.D. to area hospitals who were providing MSNs to teach in the Leased Faculty program. This was done to provide teaching resources for MSNs and to simplify the process for sharing curriculum.
• An orientation and mentoring program is under development.
• Nursing Expansion "Pilot" program – Graduated
21 nursing students in May 2006 (started in January 2005).
• Second cohort of 38 students started in January 2007.
Post-Acute Care Advisory Council (PACAC) – Goals:
Find alternative sites for clinicals, explore ways to maintain current
OTA program, start Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program.
• Marianjoy is now serving as a site for nursing student clinical
rotations for C.O.D. It was concluded that alternative hours (p.m. shift)
would work best, since most of the patients at Marianjoy are in therapy
during core clinical hours.
• The Occupational Therapy Assistant program (OTA) was officially
closed in 2006 due to lack of faculty. The reinstitution of this program
will be evaluated at a later date.
• The LPN program was a recommendation of this subcommittee in 2005 and is targeted to begin in January 2008. For more informatino, please refer to the information below in the Legislative, Policy and Grants Subcommittee or visit: www.cod.edu/nursing/lpn.
Legislative, Policy and Grants Subcommittee – Goals:
Identify, evaluate and recommend opportunities for the DAHLC to address
grants and funding, legislation, and Practice Acts.
The Department of Labor Community-Based
Job Training Grant request was for monies to support the reinstitution
of a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program, which will be located at the C.O.D. Westmont Regional Center. Due to the support of many community partners, either financially or through other means, the DOL Community-Based Job Training Grant was awarded to College of DuPage in January 2007 in the amount of $1.4 million.
Many initiatives were included in the grant, such as career awareness events for students, faculty, counselors and parents of K-12; the implementation of the LPN Capacity Bridge program; improved tracking capabilities of students as they move through career lattices and ladders; and the integration of health care coursework and concepts into the curriculums of primary and secondary educational institutions.
The LPN program will be a stand-alone program, and it is expected to launch in January 2008, with the first class of students estimated at approximately 40. The students will be given the option to enroll in a bridge course, which upon successful completion, will allow them to move directly into the second year of the Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program. The DAHLC has supported this intiative, which will help maintain a steady pipeline of LPN candidates into the workforce and will also allow incumbent workers the opportunity to move up within their respective organizations. For more information about the DOL grant or LPN program, visit: www.cod.edu/nursing/lpn.
C.O.D. Healthcare Recruitment Task
Force – Goals:
Address issues such as sharing resources to recruit candidates in order
to fulfill the pipeline needs of the future health care workforce in
DuPage County; create awareness of these issues among the community
and future health care workforce; address the diversity and cultural
needs of the community in relation to future health care students and
workforce.
• 7th Grade Career Fair: DAHLC facilitator Jeri Lynn Else presented to seventh grade students from throughout DuPage County at the April 25 to 26 Career Days. This event was sponsored by the DuPage Office of Regional Education.
• Cruisin...A Voyage in Healthcare Careers: On June 26 to 28, C.O.D. hosted a three-day workshop called "Cruisin'...A Voyage in Health Care Careers," which was designed to help middle and high school teachers and guidance counselors prepare students for a career in health care. This was made possible from the DOL Community-Based Job Training Grant. The cruise theme created a fun atmosphere, with attendees touring C.O.D. classrooms and labs, as well as area health care organizations, to learn about the continuum of care provided by health care professionals in the community.
• Toolkit for Healthcare Partnerships: The Recruitment Task Force's next initiative will be to develop a "Toolkit" for use by teachers, counselors and employers. The Toolkit will assist these groups in creating partnerships and will help them bring relevant information about the health care industry to classrooms and workplace settings.
Clinical Educators Task Force – Goal:
To optimize the student's time in clinical experiences and reduce the
time of orientation, resulting in a savings of approximtely 12 to 15
hours of orientation time per student.
On Aug. 31, 2005, the first Universal Student Orientation was held at
College of DuPage. This program was conducted for more than 260 nursing
students (first- and second-year) during two sessions that featured the
required training they needed to begin their clinical rotations at each
participating hospital.
On Aug. 23, 2006, a second Universal Student Orientation was held that included nursing students as well as health care students from Respiratory
Care, Diagnostic Medical Imaging Sonography, Nuclear Medicine and Phlebotomy/EKG
disciplines. The program was videotaped and made available on CD-roms,
as well as through an online video stream. An online Universal Student Orientation
program will be available for use by
In early
August 2007, the Universal Student Orientation was made available online to students and faculty through a web-based program. This allowed the students to access the required orientation at their convenience, and enabled the college to obtain updates on the students' progress. The ability to offer the student orientation online was made possible through the DOL Community-Based Job Training Grant.
Clinical Coordination Project – Goal:
To produce enough health care workers for the workforce pipeline to
meet demands and better serve Illinois communities over the next decade
and beyond.
The DAHLC launched a region-wide initiative to pilot a program for centralizing
and coordinating the clinical placement in nursing for all participating
health care providers and academic institutions in DuPage County. A Clinical
Coordination Summit was held in July 2006 to review other models and
initiatives. With the support of the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare
Council (MCHC), a database is being developed that will house all information
pertaining to clinical placement needs and opportunities. MCHC plans
to hire a clinical coordinator in late 2007. The pilot project will
initially focus on nursing, but is expected to include all other health
care disciplines requiring clinical rotations.
The program will be tested in fall 2007 and spring 2008, with participating hospitals in DuPage and Kane counties, as well as academic institutions throughout northern Illinois. Once the pilot project is completed, the next step will include a roll out of the program to the entire metro region of Chicago. Updates will be posted on this site as they become available.
NEW!
Therapies Subcommittee – Goal:
To address the Occupational, Physical and Speech Therapy shortages utilizing existing models and new and innovative initiatives.
This committee, comprised of approximately 20 members from area health care employers and academic partners, held its first meeting in August 2007. Members are working to identify one or two major priorities/initiatives, as well as methods of collaboration to help reduce the shortages in these therapeutic disciplines. Expansion of existing therapy programs will be a major focus. The next meeting is scheduled for October.
Mary Beth Marshall
Executive Director
DuPage County Workforce Board
(630) 955-2082
