Hospital Reaches Out to College To Help Boost Nursing Program
Health Care by Laurence Darmiento
Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital has its own solution to the state’s nursing shortage: if you can’t find any, train them yourself.
The Valencia hospital has reached an agreement with nearby College of the Canyons that will boost enrollment at the community college’s nursing program while forming closer ties between the two institutions.
The hospital is funding a full-time instructor for the college’s nursing program that will allow it to increase each semester’s enrollment to 36 students from the current 24. But that’s only part of it.
The hospital also is donating a vacant building on its campus to the college program that will be converted into a clinical lab where nursing students can practice before advancing to real hospital wards.
At the same time, the hospital is opening up work-study positions for students that pay them at 80 percent of a full-time rate, while only requiring they work two-thirds time. Hospital nurses also are being paid to mentor students.
“We want to be the employer of choice for these nurses,” said Diane Lynch, chief nursing officer at the hospital.
Ironically, Henry Mayo is making the commitment, which will cost it some $120,000 initially, in the midst of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The hospital filed for bankruptcy protection last year and plans on filing a reorganization plan this June.
ER Aid Redux
Efforts to compensate doctors and hospitals for providing uncompensated care at emergency rooms through big-ticket initiatives have fallen flat recently. Now, Assemblyman George Nakano has set his sites lower.
The Torrance Democrat recently introduced legislation that would improve access to a state fund aimed at reimbursing uncompensated emergency care.
The legislation, AB 1833, would simplify reimbursement procedures for accessing the Maddy Emergency Medical Service Fund, and require counties to better notify doctors that the money is available. Apparently, the fund is not even known to some doctors, as evidenced by the fact there was $56 million remaining in it at the end of the 1999-2000 reporting period.
“We must make all available funds more accessible,” Nakano says.
The money comes from penalty assessments on fines and bail forfeiture for certain criminal offenses and motor vehicle violations.
Now the question is whether the bill can become law. Last year, the governor vetoed a similar bill after some last minute parliamentary moves inserted it into unrelated legislation. Davis said it lacked appropriate legislative review.
Board on Trial
The Medical Board of California will be on the hot seat Wednesday when the Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee considers its future.
The board had been up for review since it is set to be abolished July 2003 and converted into a bureau of the Department of Consumer Affairs unless the Legislature extends its life.
But now its position is even more tenuous after an investigative report by the Orange County Register found that the board thoroughly reviews only 20 percent of the 10,600 complaints lodged against doctors annually.
Among those scheduled to testify at the hearing are representatives of the medical board, the California Medical Association and the Center for Public Interest Law, which has been critical of the board.
Staff Reporter Laurence Darmiento can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 237 or at
[email protected].
