Tuesday, Aug. 04, 2009

SIUE nursing program expanding south to Carbondale campus

The SIUE nursing program is expanding so fast that a satellite program will be opening on the Carbondale campus, possibly with the help of the U.S. government.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's school of nursing has gone from fewer than 400 students in 2003 to 967 this coming fall, including undergraduate and graduate students. Hoping to address the shortage of nurses in Southern Illinois and rural areas, the school will open a regional nursing program at Carbondale this year, according to nursing dean Marcia Maurer.

Edwardsville will be the home base, Maurer said, with classes held at both campuses. Currently, Carbondale only offers pre-nursing courses and then refers students to full nursing-degree programs. Edwardsville is one of those programs, offering a full baccalaureate and master's programs, as well as certified nurse anesthetist program.

The satellite classes will be taught through live video conferencing and will allow, for example, a pediatric nursing professor to teach two classes at once. Carbondale will have a simulated lab with equipment.

"We're here to teach the people of Illinois, but we are not affording people the opportunity for baccalaureate nursing (in Southern Illinois)," Maurer said.

Edwardsville's school is the only full-service program south of Springfield in Illinois. Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, Mo., also offers a four-year nursing school.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a $500,000 grant to help kick-start the program. It still must be approved as part of the Health and Human Services appropriations but, if approved, it will cover the first two years of costs and purchase of equipment for the Carbondale lab, Maurer said.

The university is committed to the Carbondale satellite program whether or not the federal grant comes through, she said.

"This is a great example of how our two campuses are able to collaborate to serve the southernmost part of the state," SIUE Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift said. "In this endeavor, SIUE has the expertise in nursing and existing administration to provide a much-needed service to the region, while SIUC can help deliver that service to Southern Illinois students in an efficient manner."

Why not simply start a new program at Carbondale? Edwardsville's program has just completed an extensive reaccreditation process, for which it received top marks, Maurer said -- the national agency called their program "inspirational."

Yet the explosion of nursing applicants, and the long delays in a new science building and overworked science labs that run seven days a week on the Edwardsville campus, have limited how much more SIUE can do.

"I cannot take any more students at this campus," Maurer said.

Even if the on-campus issues could be resolved, she said, the hospitals in the St. Louis region have students from 13 different associate and baccalaureate programs vying for clinical experience.

"I am very pleased with our partnership with SIUE," said SIUC Chancellor Samuel Goldman said. "Both campuses will benefit and our region will gain much-needed, well-prepared nurses."

It's Maurer's hope that the students who attend at Carbondale will finish their baccalaureate degree and return to practice in their hometowns, which are short of nurses, she said.

That shortage was in part a side effect of women moving into all parts of the workforce in the 1970s and '80s, she said. Even now, nationwide, only about 12 percent of nursing students are men -- about 13 percent to 15 percent at SIUE, she said.

"Obviously we would like to see more men in nursing," she said. "We've tried to change that perception."