Officials To Consider Establishing Four-Year Nursing Program in Ventura County
California State University-Channel Islands this year will conduct a study to examine the feasibility of establishing a four-year nursing program at the Camarillo campus, CSUCI President Richard Rush said, the Ventura County Star reports. The program would be the only four-year nursing program in Ventura County; two-year programs are available at colleges in Moorpark and Ventura.
The proposed program is intended to help address the nursing shortage, particularly in Ventura County.
Gary Wilde, president of Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, said many nurses choose to work at hospitals in inland California in part because housing prices are lower.
Monty Clark, a regional vice president with the Southern California Hospital Association, said, "The idea is that many of the students going into this program would be from Ventura County and have local roots."
In addition, officials might establish a special scholarship for program recipients who agree to work at a local hospital after graduating.
The California State University Chancellor's Office and a majority of CSUCI faculty must approve the program for it to be implemented, which could take place as early as 2007 (Scheibe, Ventura County Star, 2/28).