Lawton Community Health Center, INC

PROJECT PURPOSE

We have taken the nursing shortage into our own hands. We are currently partnered with Great Plains Technology to hire and educate those that want to become Medical Aides in our 19 clinics. This partnership provides us a pipeline of potential nurses that we can continue to grow into CNAs, LPNs, and RNs.

EVIDENCE

An article from USA.EDU reported in 2021: ?Given the growing demand for healthcare services across a multitude of specialties, reports project that 1.2 million new registered nurses (RNs) will be needed by 2030 to address the current shortage. Nursing schools and graduate nursing programs are working to accommodate the rising demand for skilled nurses and nurse leaders, but they also face challenges.? (https://www.usa.edu/blog/nursing-shortage/)

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

Since the onset of COVID-19, and even prior to the pandemic, the shortage of nurses across the United States was beginning to increase. It was obvious when the ?Baby Boomer? generation began retiring, the nurse employee base would be at an all-time low. The pandemic has pushed our nurses to their limits in the hospitals, clinics, and nursing care facilities. They are fatigued, stressed, and sorrowful for what they have dealt with over the past two years and there seems to be no end in sight. Platt College, the primary source for educating new medical assistants in Southwest Oklahoma, closed in the fall of 2020. This closing drastically affected the number of new nurses.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

The Curriculum will teach students to take blood pressure, give shots, and draw labs on a patient. Students are tested after each section of the curriculum and must maintain a C average, with a positive clinical evaluation at the end of the course.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma