The fact that Oklahoma has a nursing shortage wasn't what motivated Diane Mbetsi to become a nurse.
“Nurses get hands-on experience with patients that doctors don't get. That solidified the choice,” said Broken, who considered various options to enter the medical field.・An Arrow High School graduate said.
At the same time, Mbetsi, a nursing student at Rogers State University, feels good knowing there is no shortage of job opportunities.
In fact, she likely already knows where her first nursing job will be.
Mbetsi is one of the first students to take advantage of a new expanded campus partnership between Claremore-based RSU and St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa that officially launched last fall.
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One of the many benefits for both parties is that hospitals now have a ready pool of nurses like Mbetsi to hire.
Mbetsi is one of 32 students currently taking classes on the hospital grounds, including 16 students who just started this spring semester.
The RSU St. Francis campus is located at St. Francis' main hospital and features the region's only hospital-based simulation center.
As part of the partnership, St. Francis has hired five full-time faculty members.
The program is part of St. Francis' strategic effort to recruit registered nurses through academic partnerships and is underwritten for the first three years by a grant from the William K. Warren Foundation.
To account for retirements and future growth, health systems need to hire more than 600 nurses annually.
St. Francis' goal is to employ 80 percent of its graduates from partnerships that include RSU.
RSU Health Sciences Dean Carla Lynch said the partnership will allow RSU's nursing program to accept more qualified applicants and help overcome space and faculty needs.
“That allowed us to expand our capacity so there were fewer students who were eligible but were just waiting to get in,” she said. “Each admissions cycle, we have had to reject qualified applicants.”
The high-fidelity simulation center, which is also available to the hospital's physicians and staff, is state-of-the-art and provides students with real-world medical scenarios.
It includes a variety of patient mannequins, as well as four suites that simulate medical/surgical nursing, critical care, labor and delivery, trauma, and pediatric inpatient rooms.
Another student taking advantage of the partnership, Michael Lamont, wants to become a pediatric nurse.
“The hope was to get my foot in the door, get a little more familiar with the force and be able to get out when it was time to get a job. That wasn't new to me,” he said. .
Originally from Bakersville, Calif., Lamont moved to Tulsa, where her mother lives, to attend nursing school.
Like Mbetsi, he wanted a career in medicine and chose nursing for the personal interaction with patients.
Mbetsi is originally from Cameroon and lived in Spain for several years before moving to Oklahoma. She wants to be an intensive care unit or ER nurse, she said.
In addition to classes, she works as a medical assistant at St. Francis Hospital.
The option to attend the St. Francis campus is available to third- and fourth-year students pursuing a bachelor's degree in nursing at RSU.
The ultimate plan is to serve 64 nursing students (32 juniors and 32 seniors) at St. Francis each year.
tim.stanley@tulsaworld.com
“This has allowed us to expand our capacity and reduce the number of qualified students who are just waiting to enroll.” — Carla Lynch, RSU's Dean of Health Sciences, based in Claremore Comments on the partnership between RSU and St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa
