OCR Text |
Show Nursing program wanted CEDAR CITY The Valley View Medical Center and other interested persons in Cedar City are in the process of trying to bring a University of Utah extensionoutreach nursing program to the area. The service would provide a baccalaureate degree program for registered nurses who wish to further their education without leaving the immediate area. Cedar City has a large turn-over of nurses, partially because in order for nurses to continue their education beyond the associate degree level, they must leave the Cedar City area and travel to Salt Lake, Ogden or Provo, according to 1 Chris Zundel, registered nurse at the Valley View Medical Center. She also added that out of the thirty registered nurses at the Medical Center approximately four to five nurses have baccalaureate degrees. "This doesn't mean that the nurses are less competent, but if they had more education we could provide better service," said Zundel. "Everything is arranged for the program, and right now we're only waiting to see if the funding comes through," added Zundel. A petition with all the nurses' signatures has been sent to Governor Scott Matheson' and Representative Haze Hunter, Zundel said. She also added that there are many married nurses with children in the . area that would like to further their education but do not wish to leave their families. If the program goes through, part of it would be taught in St. George and the other part would be taught in Cedar City so nurses interested in the program would not have to travel great distances. Another problem Zundel stated was that a great number of nurses that do leave the area and receive their baccalaureate degrees, prefer to remain at larger hospitals, thus Cedar City . loses a lot of good nurses. . The University of Utah outreach service js an established and accredited program with an experienced faculty, explained Zundel. According to information released from the U of U, the outreach programs would not compete with other state-supported programs. The first half of the four-year program could be. completed at neighboring institutions. According to Zundel, a Weber State extension program is offered to students- here in Ceda City but only offers an associate degree program. |