The University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Saline Health System said Tuesday that they would partner to address a nursing shortage in Saline County.
The two are launching the UA Little Rock/Saline Health System Pathways Program, which will help students earn two-year associate of applied science degrees. Students would then be able to apply for registered nursing licenses and go to work at Saline Memorial Hospital.
The program aims to award $5,000 per student over the course of the program. The award will be structured as a loan and subject to forgiveness each month as long as the student works at Saline Memorial Hospital.
Twenty students will enter the program this fall.
“If you were to look at the history of our association with Saline Memorial Hospital, you will see that it goes over many, many decades,” Ann Bain, dean of UA Little Rock’s College of Education & Health Professions, said during a Tuesday news conference. “We have long valued the quality care that this institution provides and the collegial support that we get for our students’ learning from your staff, who recognize the importance of mentoring and the importance of role modeling quality nursing care. So we truly appreciate our long-standing commitment with you guys, but we also very much value the fact that we are entering into a formal relationship with you.”
Sloane Davidson, chair of nursing at UA Little Rock, told Arkansas Business, “I’ve been part of the interview process for the students, and it looks like we have a really amazing group of young nurses to be … [The program] gives students the chance to focus on studying.”
“Nursing is one of the hardest majors that there is, so not having to work” is a great help to students, she said. Davidson also said this will help get them out of school faster and into a workforce that desperately needs nurses. In central Arkansas alone, there are about 400 open RN positions, she added.
UA Little Rock announced a three-year, two-part Pathways program with CHI St. Vincent last year. That program aimed to recruit and educate an average of 40 students per year, after which students could get their RN license and work at CHI St. Vincent.
Saline Memorial Hospital has 117 beds and reported net patient revenue of $84.2 million and income of $3.15 million for its fiscal year that ended June 30, 2016, the latest figure available to Arkansas Business.
Bob Trautman resigned last month as CEO of Saline Memorial Hospital. Sue Shugart, COO at Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center in Hartsville, South Carolina, began serving as interim CEO on July 9 and attended Tuesday’s announcement.
Shugart told Arkansas Business the national search for a permanent CEO will likely take several months.
Shugart also said it’s too soon to say how the new work requirements attached to Medicaid expansion in Arkansas, called Arkansas Works, will have on the hospital. But she said there has already been a slight uptick in uninsured patients there.
She said she is focusing on finding out what services residents are leaving the community to receive and how Saline Memorial could offer them.
Shugart added that she is adjusting to a less regulated health care landscape here compared to South Carolina. Medicaid expansion is new to her too, because South Carolina didn’t implement it.
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