is Goal of UNMC’s Add-A-Competency Program
The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s rural education program
has graduated 64 students since its beginning in 1991. Of those rural program
graduates, 94 percent obtained their first job in a rural area – 76 percent
of those jobs were in rural Nebraska. Prior to the program, only 8 percent
of the graduates took their first jobs in a rural community.
UNMC has designed a program to train medical laboratory workers and
allied health practitioners currently working in rural Nebraska in more
than one area of health care. The focus of the program is to bring more
multi-skilled allied health professionals to rural Nebraska.
The three-year program is funded by a grant of more than $324,000 from
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funding was awarded
to the division of medical technology in UNMC’s School of Allied Health
Professions. The program’s cost-effectiveness, quality care, patient satisfaction
and professional development are being studied
AAdd-A-Competency is designed to develop a supply of health-care professionals
who have multiple skills for practice in rural Nebraska,@ said Phyllis
Muellenberg, director of the medical technology program and co-director
with Linda Fell of the Add-A-Competency Program.
Courses offered through the program include limited scope radiography,
cardiopulmonary care, advanced management/information technology and phlebotomy/basic
lab skills. Students are only responsible for the cost of books and teaching
materials.
AWe’re looking at building additional skills in people who already are
health-care professionals so they can be of greater benefit to their institutions,@
Muellenberg said.
Research shows that the greatest need in Nebraska’s rural health-care
facilities is for medical technologists with additional skills in radiography.
Training for eligible technologists began last summer in this discipline.
A two-week course titled Limited Scope of Practice in Radiography, is
being offered July 20 through 31. Twenty-eight health-care practitioners
have signed up for the program. Training includes classroom instruction
and conferences, and working in clinical situations, practice laboratory
sessions and computer-assisted instruction. Participants are prepared for
the licensure examination that will enable them to perform limited radiography
procedures.
The limited radiography course is being held at the Rural Health Education
Distance Learning Center in Kearney, a cooperative project between UNMC
and the University of Nebraska at Kearney that supports the application
of distance learning technology. In conjunction with the program, new communication
systems and distance learning options are being explored.
Also this summer, the Cardiopulmonary Skills Module will be offered.
This course will include patient assessment skills, respiratory skills,
such as evaluation of lung sounds, and information on blood gases and oxygen
delivery devices. EKG testing and interpretation will be offered in the
fall.
A full semester course in Advanced Management/Information Technology
will be offered in September, using several types of distance learning
technologies. Areas of financial management, personnel management, state
and federal accreditation procedures and new information technology will
be covered.
Administrators are looking for people who can manage and summarize data,
as well as use information systems for their institutions, Muellenberg
said.
Muellenberg said any health-care practitioner can participate in these
courses. She stressed that the program is designed to augment skills. It’s
add-a-competency, not take one of these skills and make a job out of it.
The Add-A-Competency program was developed following surveys and discussions
conducted by SAHP representatives with rural health-care facility administrators
and practitioners. The research revealed a need for multi-skilled allied
health-care professionals in medical facilities throughout rural Nebraska.
For the first class last summer, Fell expected 10 participants, but
the program drew 23 from 18 communities throughout Nebraska and one each
in Colorado and Kansas. Twenty of these professionals were laboratory personnel
already employed in rural health-care facilities. The other three were
students in health professions programs.
UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the state.
Through its commitment to research, education and patient care, UNMC has
established itself as one of the country’s leading centers for cancer research
and treatment and solid organ transplantation. More than $27 million in
research grants and contracts are awarded to UNMC scientists annually.
In addition, UNMC’s educational programs are responsible for training more
health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution.