Long Beach Hospital, University Partner for Nursing Program
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center/Miller Children's Hospital has partnered with California State University-Long Beach to expand the university's nursing program and to train nurses at the hospital, the Long Beach Press Telegram reports. Under the five-year, $15 million agreement, university and hospital faculty will teach nursing students at the hospital and will incorporate into nurse training use of a nine-bed simulator lab that currently is under construction. CSULB will be able to double the number of nursing students that it enrolls to produce an additional 300 nursing graduates in the next five years. The year-round program will let students complete the nursing portion of their bachelor of science in nursing degrees in two years, rather than three. In addition, the hospital will offer to pay students' tuition and reimburse them for books if they agree to work at the hospital for two years after graduation. Byron Schweigert, CEO of the hospital, said that he expects the increased number of graduates from the program to "help solve the nursing shortage in this state." Classes at Long Beach Memorial/Miller Children's began this week (Butler, Long Beach Press Telegram, 1/25).
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