WellStar, KSU team up to augment nursing program

WellStar Health System has entered into a partnership with Kennesaw State University to enhance KSU’s nursing program, develop WellStar’s future workforce and make a dent in the severe shortage of nurses facing the nation.

“Kennesaw State University offers one of the strongest nursing programs, and the largest, in the state of Georgia,” said Dr. Gregory L. Simone, president and chief executive officer of WellStar Health System on Friday. “Combined with WellStar’s mission to provide high-quality health care services to this community, we are excited about the potential this partnership represents.”

KSU president Daniel Papp said the expanded partnership will help KSU attract “the best and the brightest nursing students in the state.”

KSU and WellStar will work together to recruit more KSU Bachelor of Science nurses to work throughout the WellStar system.

An adjunct faculty certification program will be established for qualified WellStar nurses, through which nursing students will spend six to eight weeks per semester engaged in hands-on training.

“This robust program will provide KSU nursing students a more focused clinical training experience and help foster WellStar’s vision to provide world-class health care,” the hospital company said in a statement.

The partnership also will provide faculty development funds to retain nursing faculty within KSU’s WellStar School of Nursing. Scholarships for undergraduate students also will be provided.

WellStar and KSU have collaborated in many efforts in the past two decades. The partnership was formalized in 2003 with the naming of KSU’s WellStar School of Nursing and the WellStar College of Health and Human Services.

“The face of nursing has changed over the years, compared to where it was when I started,” Simone said. “Then, nurses just followed orders. Today’s nurse is an integral member of the care delivery team. Today’s nurse truly makes clinical decisions that affect the welfare and outcomes of patients.”

He said the nursing shortage nationwide is “severe,” but not as acute at WellStar because “of the support we give our nurses. On a national basis, the severity is quite high and is expected to become more extreme in the future.”

KSU is the third largest university in Georgia, offering more than 65 graduate and undergraduate degrees, including new doctorates in education and business. It has a student population of more than 21,000 from 142 countries.