Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention - Workforce Expansion Program - South Arkansas College (SouthArk), located in downtown El Dorado, Arkansas, in rural Union County, is a publicly-controlled, two-year community college, offering a variety of certificates and degrees, with face-to-face, hybrid, and online learning available. County high school students can participate in concurrent learning at their high school or on-campus, including a new LPN track, earning them high school and college credits. To meet industry demand for more registered nurses in this region, South Arkansas College (SouthArk) proposes to develop and implement the South Arkansas Traditional Registered Nurse Program (SATRN-P) to prepare new graduate nurses for practice in acute and long-term care settings. This program will offer a multi-faceted approach that includes financial, academic, and person-centered support, increases the number of clinical faculty and preceptors, and increases the number of clinical opportunities for nursing students. Currently, SouthArk has a Practical Nursing program with four cohorts of students each year, including a high school class through the Secondary Technical Center. The college also is a member of the Arkansas Rural Nursing Education Consortium (ARNEC) Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) to RN transition program. To reduce costs and refocus the ARNEC program, leadership in that program decided to restructure and redesign the program which has resulted in a reduction in the number of students each campus can accept. Consequently, SouthArk has seen its available registered nursing class seats reduced from 48 students to 24 students for the coming year. It is unknown if the cap of 24 students will be continued in the future, so it is critical that the college develop its own RN program to train and graduate nurses to meet the need of regional hospitals and long-term care facilities. SouthArk currently has 129 applications for those 24 spots. To recruit from rural and underserved areas, SouthArk will develop an actionable framework, informed by SouthArk’s strategic plan, THRIVE, which highlights Inclusion as one of its five initiatives, with sub-initiatives in Access, Awareness, and Value (THRIVE 2022-2027, southark.edu) Based on this plan, this framework will include: • Recruitment of students from underserved, rural areas in south Arkansas and north Louisiana • Recruit faculty and staff that is reflective of SouthArk’s community population. • Development and modeling of workplace interactions • Promoting an inclusive environment through relationship building. • Promoting a sense of belonging through visibility and awareness of the diverse campus community. The South Arkansas Traditional Registered Nurse Program (SATRN-P) will address program goals of increasing RN graduates, increasing the number of clinical opportunities in acute and long-term care, increasing the number of clinical faculty and preceptors, and increasing the number of RN graduates obtaining employment in acute and long-term care facilities. South Arkansas College will enroll 72 students, in cohorts of 24, during the performance period who will attend the five-semester South Arkansas Traditional Registered Nurse Program (SATRN-P) and graduate as RNs to work in acute and long-term care facilities. South Arkansas College seeks a Funding Priority as a Public Entity and qualifies for a Qualification 1 Funding Preference: Substantially Benefits Rural Populations.
