The U College of Nursing is looking to the Utah Legislature for funding to hire additional faculty to train much-needed nurses. However, with the expected budget cuts, its hopes are slim.
The Utah Legislature’s 4 percent budget cut last fall affected all departments across campus and came at an especially bad time for the College of Nursing, which is trying to train more qualified nurses to make up for the hospital personnel shortage facing the state.
Although the college has received $2 million annually from the Legislature to help train nurses, last year’s cut drained most of its remaining funds.
“In Utah, the need for nurses has more than tripled,” said Maureen Keefe, dean of the College of Nursing. “More residents are moving to the state, members of society are living longer. Utah has the highest birth rate in the country.”
University Health Care has a partnership with the college to train nurses for free if they work for the University Hospital.
By offering free tuition, the college has taken on an additional nine groups of 30 students. However, to train additional students to meet Utah hospitals’ needs, the college says it requires further funding to hire faculty.
To train nurses, faculty must have a master’s or doctorate degree in nursing.
In an effort to encourage more students to receive their graduate nursing degree, the college offers tuition assistance for nurses who intend to come back and teach at the U.
Keefe said the first class of doctoral nursing students will graduate in May. The college opened two new graduate degree programs within the past two years to help train more staff.
In the meantime, the partnership with University Health Care has organized for more licensed nurses to assist students with clinical work at the U Hospital.
Kathy Sadler, a certified medical staff recruiter, said clinical sessions are in deep demand because students from Westminster College, Weber State University and Brigham Young University come to the U for clinical work to receive real-life training.
Although students work on test dummies, they are also required to work supervised in a hospital environment on actual patients.
Besides hiring additional faculty, the college is still fundraising for the rest of the money needed to remodel the main faculty offices and training centers on campus. Faculty vacated the old building over the holiday and moved to downtown offices across from the Salt Palace while the building is renovated.
The new building will have training centers to prepare students to work in a hospital and more faculty offices that can be filled.
Keefe said they are trying to hire more faculty through private funding for endowed chairs. She said the goal is to increase the number of chairs from seven to 10 within the next few years.
The college has received support from the Utah Hospital Association to lobby for state funding.
Joseph Krella, president of the association, said they worked with the Legislature to receive annual funding of $2 million for five years, which is about to expire. He said the association is hoping to renew that contract in the upcoming legislative session.
“I’m confident we will,” Krella said. “We have an agreement with the Legislature, but the state is requiring cuts at the university level, which could deplete part of the funds.”
Keefe said the anticipated budget cuts could have a negative impact at a time when Utah needs to train nurses so badly.
“We still don’t think the nursing shortage has reached its peak,” Keefe said.