A workforce initiative in Southern Illinois hopes to ensure the number of nurses remains steady for the next decade.

"The nursing shortage in Illinois is critical," said Cary Minnis, healthcare coordinator with CONNECT SI, a collaborative, regional economic strategy for the 20 southernmost counties in Illinois. "Our region produces about 60 fewer registered nurses annually than it needs, and that is a big challenge for our healthcare system."

Enter the Southern Illinois Online Nursing Initiative (SIONI), a full-time, hybrid-online associate degree nurse program developed by CONNECT SI in partnership with six local community colleges. The goal is to advance the education and careers of LPNs in the region.

Minnis works with community healthcare providers to find LPN candidates. The local workforce investment boards provide incumbent workers funds to match investments made by local healthcare providers for their employees. "Essentially, the workforce investment boards pay half the cost of training, and the employer is responsible for the other half," Minnis explained.
 
College Connections
The first step of SIONI was to establish connections with regional healthcare providers and six community colleges: Frontier Community College, Fairfield; John A. Logan College, Carterville; Rend Lake College, Ina; Shawnee Community College, Ullin; Southeastern Illinois College, Harrisburg; and Wabash Valley College, Mt. Carmel.
 
At present, the colleges are taking applications and testing for admissions. Brochures are being distributed to healthcare providers who may be interested in the program.

"We are targeting healthcare providers and employers rather than the nurses since an employer match is required. We believe what makes our program unique is our target audience - working nurses within our region."

Four Workforce Investment Act providers are planning to pay half of the training cost for eligible qualified participants with their employers paying the other half.

Coursework
To participate in SIONI, LPNs submit their application to their local community college. They complete any non-nursing prerequisite courses as necessary for graduation.

Students take online didactic classes and participate in clinicals through their home community college. The program curriculum is 30 total credit hours and covers the following areas: assessment, pharmacology, respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic/endocrine, gastrointestinal and genitourinary, psychiatric, pediatric, obstetric, orthopedic/dermatologic, neurologic and leadership.
 
The program will start with 10 students at each college. One faculty member from each college will teach the didactic portion for 20 students, and then online teaching will be shared for the next class. Students will take the lab and clinical portions of their coursework at their home college and local hospitals.

Expectations
Minnis hopes the program will reach those LPNs who previously balked at furthering their education because it would jeopardize their work schedule. "We hope they will be able to maintain full-time working status with enough hours to continue benefits."

He also hopes the program will keep more nurses in the state. "Illinois is bordered by three other states and major cities - St. Louis, Evansville, Cape Giradeau and Paducah. Students who live on the border have no real ties to Southern Illinois, so when they graduate, they often migrate to those more urban areas."

"Our plan is to test the hypothesis that if you train people who have more ties to the region, with employers, family, etc., then they're more likely to stay and work here."

For more information, contact Cary Minnis at 618-998-0970, ext. 211, or e-mail him at caryminnis@mantracon.org.

Abigail Scott is a freelance writer for ADVANCE.