Atlanta - The Department of Technical and Adult Education has awarded $619,495 to five of its technical colleges, allowing those schools to expand their registered nursing programs and address a growing shortage of RNs in Georgia.

The demand for nurses in Georgia and the nation will grow faster than most other occupations well into the next decade, yet health care providers are increasingly reporting difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified RNs. They cite an aging workforce and lack of younger workers, plus the loss of RNs who take a leave of absence from the profession and then are reluctant to return due to the time and expense required for reinstatement of their nursing license.

“Health care is a strategic industry that’s critical to the growth and well-being of Georgia, and it’s incumbent upon the Technical College System of Georgia to meet the workforce needs of our state,” said DTAE Commissioner Mike Vollmer. “These additional funds allow our colleges to
work to meet the demand for qualified RNs through expansion and acceleration of existing
nursing programs, as well as by adding reentry programs for those who wish to return but
require license reinstatement.’

‘The outstanding classroom capabilities of our colleges plus the use of innovation like distance learning and virtual hospitals makes this all possible,” added Vollmer.

Governor Sonny Perdue noted the importance of training and retaining more qualified nurses and praised the DTAE initiative.

“Nurses are a critical part of Georgia’s health care system,” said Governor Perdue. “We must
insure that we have enough capacity to train the new nurses that we need, and also create working conditions that will cause them to want to remain in the profession, and in Georgia. DTAE’s grant funding is a great start.”

The DTAE Health Care Program Expansion Grant recipients are:

- Athens Technical College received $90,000 to expand its Accelerated Associate Degree Nursing - Summer Option (AADN-SO) to the Gwinnett Technical College campus. AADN-SO allows a licensed practical nurse to condense the first three quarters of an RN program into a summer-long “bridge” format of classes, exams, skills laboratory check-offs and clinical evaluations. The LPN is then mainstreamed into the second year of the two-year RN degree program. The AADN-SO at Gwinnett Tech will fast-track an additional 10 nurses to graduate with RN degrees in June 2008.

- Columbus Technical College got $216,455 to extend its RN program to the campuses of Flint River Technical College in Thomaston and West Georgia Technical College in LaGrange. The FRTC and WGTC programs will each produce 20 new graduates with RN degrees in June 2008.

- Northwestern Technical College in Rock Spring received $113,040 to increase enrollment in their program that enables nurses to accelerate the transition from LPN to RN. The college will also add refresher and reentry courses for RNs who need their licenses reinstated in order to return to the field. NTC will augment their exist RN program with continuing education classes beginning in January 2007 and an expanded transition class in July 2007, eventually adding 38 additional RNs to the workforce.

- Southwest Technical College in Thomasville obtained $125,000 for a RN refresher and reentry program. SWTC expects that the program, which includes distance learning, virtual hospital software and clinical participation, will allow 20 currently unlicensed RNs to apply for reinstatement in April 2007.

- West Central Technical College in Waco was given $75,000 to expand its RN program through distance learning and electronic student portfolios that provide on-going assessments of their mastery of assignments, projects and case studies. This will enable WCTC to expand their RN degree program from 40 students to 50 in April 2007.