Dr. Jeffrey Gold and other leaders of the University of Nebraska Medical Center have been in the area this week, highlighting new developments involving local medical education opportunities.
Tuesday, the educational institution signed a master affiliation agreement with Regional West, which will expand the number of UNMC students that will be rotating through the hospital for their clinical training.
Dr. Gold said programs such as this are vital to addressing healthcare workforce needs throughout the state, especially in rural areas.
“It’ll give us a greater opportunity to have young women and young men who are going to med school, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, etc., get that clinical experience here in the Scottsbluff-Gering area and western Nebraska. And, if you want to know the single highest predictor of what it takes to recruit talent to any community, it’s of course they need a great job. But it’s where they had their last training, where they had that clinical experience,” Gold said.
Regional West CEO Mel McNea hailed the agreement, saying in a statement that “with this new affiliation agreement, we are thrilled to continue and expand our relationship with UNMC for our clinical students. This agreement enables even more UNMC students to do clinical rotations at Regional West. It is important for students to experience and deliver healthcare in the western end of the state.”
Lepaine Sharp-McHenry, Professor and Dean of the UNMC College of Nursing, says the upgraded arrangement will help bolster the workforce of the future while reducing reliance on temporary healthcare workers.
“Travelers are here to fulfill a role, and then they’re going to move on to their next assignment. And what we’re really wanting to do is to try to increase the number of those nurses that we educate here in the community,” said Sharp-McHenry. “That will hopefully help the hospitals to reduce the number of travelers that they have and have more permanent individuals that are serving in those roles.”
During the swing, local community members have also had the opportunity to sign the final beam that will be part of a ‘topping-off’ ceremony next month marking the completion of the new Rural Health Education Building at the University of Nebraska- Kearney.
