Terri Blevins, practical nursing director at Tennessee Technology Center in Elizabethton, spoke on the regional economic impact of the LPN program during a Northeast Tennessee Technology Council meeting at the Herman Robinson campus recently.
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"I honestly think that we are one of the best-kept secrets in the state of Tennessee," said Blevins. "When I look at the number of nurses we have, though, we are pretty well known around our area."
Blevins said students in the LPN program do clinical work at hospitals and nursing homes.
In addition, she said "we do all kinds of clinics, volunteer work on Saturdays and evenings, and we help out with kindergarten physicals."
Among recent innovations in the program is an IV Push class to enable LPNs to further their skills in intravenous medication and fluid administration.
Blevins said nurses who complete the 40-hour course receive a certificate which enables them to administer certain intravenous drugs as allowed by the Tennessee Board of Nursing.
"We can come to the individual," said Blevins. "We just did a class at a physician's office in Johnson City and that went really well.
"A lot of nursing homes and hospitals need that, and they're outsourcing the education," she explained. "We incorporate venipuncture, so they can actually start the IV. That's a big thing for a lot of facilities."
In addition, an online math class is offered to help nurses or students upgrade their math skills.
"Sometimes we have people that want to be nurses, but math makes them physically ill," Blevins said. "They can do this at home, in their pajamas.
"We can give them credit in the nursing program if they come in and take the proctored final," she added.
"Another thing we are excited about is our simulation training," Blevins said.
"We are sending an instructor to New York the first of August to learn about our 'Sim Man,' who does everything -- he breathes and he can talk to you," Blevins said.
For this project, Blevins said TTC is partnering with East Tennessee State University's Medical School to use its simulation laboratory.
"I've met with their director, and when we get this thing to maturity we want our nursing students to go there and practice with medical students," she said.
Blevins said the groundbreaking concept is still in its infancy, but details are being worked out between the two schools. She said that web cams may be incorporated so the students may critique their own work in a particular situation.
"It's the best critical-thinking tool that I have seen to date -- to use (the web cam) in a real-life situation," she said.
TTC is also gearing up to offer LPN classes at ETSU's Bristol campus.
"We were concerned about having enough students (in Bristol) but I've been assured they are there," Blevins said.
Blevins said the Bristol program will probably start with 25 or 30 students.
"These practical nurses, with a one-year investment of their time, will go out and probably find a good paying job," she said.
Blevins said some nursing homes pay between $14 and $17 an hour.
"They can certainly do quite well," she said. "If they stay at a place for a while, get some promotions and get that IV Push training under their belt, they're going to be more valuable."
Blevins said students who qualify for the Hope Scholarship can enter the LPN program thanks to the Wilder-Naifeh Technical Skills Grant and then use the Hope Scholarship to pursue the RN program.
The grant enables students to receive $2,000 a year. A student must be at least 18 and a Tennessee resident for one year upon enrollment. No minimum GPA or ACT test is required, the award amount is not based on income, and part-time students may be eligible for a prorated amount.
The Wilder-Naifeh Grant may be received in addition to the Federal Pell Grant and other financial assistance. Awards are based on available funding from the State Lottery.
Blevins, a Roan Mountain native and graduate of Cloudland High School, was recently named president of the Tennessee Center of Nursing, which serves as the research arm of the Tennessee Board of Nursing.
In addition to technical skills, there is a push to ensure that graduating students are proficient in basic academic skills as well.
"People in business and industry are looking into requiring their new employees to have some type of certificate that will show that they have reading, math and locating information skills," said Technical Foundations Director Pat Roark.
"A lot of times companies will hire an individual for a particular position, only to find that the person does not have the skills necessary for that job, even though they had a transcript saying that they had taken this or that class," said Jerry Patton, director of TTC in Elizabethton.
"Employers wanted to find a better way of guaranteeing that the people they were hiring had the necessary skills, so a movement has started that has spread in 40 states," Patton added.
Career Readiness certificates are issued, either gold, silver or bronze, listing what skills each recipient is capable of performing.
"On the back of the certificate, it lists what the student actually accomplished in a national test, to obtain this particular document," Patton said. "It's going into a national databank where an employer can access information on a student. They are tested in three different areas: applied mathematics, locating information and reading for information."
Patton said TTC students can be tested early on in the program. "Let's say they did reasonably well, passing with a bronze level certificate," Patton said. "We will have a chance to work with that particular student, and by the time they graduate, hopefully they will be up to a silver or a gold."
The certificate, he added, becomes part of their toolbox.
"This is something that I think will spread throughout the state of Tennessee, to demonstrate competency to a particular employer when it comes to interviewing an individual," Patton said.
"We are one of five Technology Centers across Tennessee that has piloted this program for the state," Roark said.
Roark said Gov. Phil Bredesen and Commissioner James Neeley of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development are signing the certificates before they are issued to students.
"We had approximately 166 students that were tested free of charge," Roark said. "Only about 10 students did not receive a certificate."
Students will also be graded on work ethics at TTC. Patton said that employers are concerned not only with academic ability and technical skills but also worker ethics.
"When they call us about one of our graduates -- whether they're in millwright, nursing, diesel, auto mechanics or welding -- the first question we hear is not 'How well did the student do in that class?'" Patton explained. "The first question we're asked is 'What's that student's attendance like?' The number one consideration is, 'If I hire this person, is he going to show up for work every day?' Then they ask if the student is capable of being a team player, and can he pass a drug screen. These are the things employers are very interested in."
Students will be graded on attendance, character, teamwork, attitude and appearance, as well as such things as communication skills, organizational skills and productivity.
"We tell the students that if they want to get their foot in the door with a good company, they better be there day in and day out," Patton said. "We're going to put an emphasis on worker ethics like you've never seen before.
"I think it's going to make a tremendous difference in the communities that we serve," he said.
The Elizabethton campus is one of five technology centers in Tennessee recognized for employment placement of 90 percent of students in all programs. The campus had 134 students graduate from the practical nursing program in 2006, and 150 are expected to graduate this year.
About 120 students have completed the five-week Certified Nurse Aide training program in the last year, and CNA classes began in Erwin in June.
In April, graduation was held for 18 Carter County high school students who completed the CNA afterschool training program. An additional 14 students completed the program in June.
Tennessee Technology Center at Elizabethton offers programs in automotive, business systems, computer operations, diesel powered equipment, electricity and electronics, HVAC and refrigeration, millwright skills, welding, dietary manager and dietary aide, in addition to LPN and CNA training.
For more information, call 543-0070.
By Steve Burwick
Elizabethton Star Staff
sburwick@starhq.com