ASHLEY CLARK, a registered nurse from Brunswick, par ticipated in Mid Coast Hospital’s Nurse Residency Program, funded through the Health Care Sector Grant. The grant trained more than 1,000 health care workers across the state between March 2010 and June 2013.
According to the preliminary Overview and Summary of Projects released earlier this month by the Maine Department of Labor, all original grant goals and objectives have been exceeded since the grant was awarded in March 2010. The grant program concluded on June 30.
The State Workforce Investment Board and the Maine Department of Labor used this grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, to maintain and strengthen partnerships among Maine’s employer, education and work force sectors to advance the development of a skilled health care workers.
“Industry partnerships like this grant show how the government can leverage resources to help the private sector create and retain jobs,” said Gov. Paul LePage.
Unemployed workers made up more than 25 percent of the total enrollment in the training program. The health care industry is the only industry in the state that continued to gain jobs during the recent recession.
Employment in Maine’s health care sector is at an all-time high.
Commissioner of Labor Jeanne Paquette noted that this grant was a collaborative effort. “This grant touched almost every aspect of the work force development system: the employers, the community college system, public and private colleges and universities, adult education, apprenticeship, the local work force boards, and others,” Paquette said.
The grant placed special emphasis on reducing the “bottleneck” created by the state’s lack of capacity to meet the demand for training nurses. It has increased both the number of qualified registered nurse clinical instructors and the availability and flexibility of clinical training facilities. It has also supported the training of clinical instructors in the use of simulation equipment. The overview noted that the projects helped improve retention rates of trainees and reduce turnover rates of new nurses and other health care staff.
For example, Brunswick’s Mid Coast Hospital has experienced a reduction in its newly hired RN turnover rate, falling from 22 percent prior to 2011 to zero since the grant-funded nurse-orientation program started.
Ashley Clark, a 22-year-old native of Brunswick, graduated in May 2011 with her RN, BSN from the University of Maine at Orono. However, she found the job market for new nursing graduates in the state to be competitive. Clark applied for the Nurse Residency Program with Mid Coast Hospital and was accepted into the program.
Clark said, “Many hospitals are unwilling to take on the cost of training a new graduate or are only able to hire a small number each year. Luckily, Mid Coast Hospital received a grant, which enabled them to hire seven new graduate nurses and create a nurse resident program.”
Other professions targeted by the grant include phlebotomist, medical lab technician, medical coding, radiology technician, respiratory technician, surgical technician, physical therapy assistant, occupational therapy assistant and pharmacy technician.
For more information on Maine’s health care work force, visit the Center for Workforce Research and Information’s publications website at www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/p ubs.html and click on Maine’s Health Sector and Workforce, Trends-Projections-Challenges. This presentation details the current employment trends.
¦ BRUNSWICK’S Mid Coast Hospital has experienced a reduction in its newly hired RN turnover rate, falling from 22 percent prior to 2011 to zero since the grantfunded nurse-orientation program started.
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