Nursing Assistant

Students are required to be a certified nursing assistant. Students move through the program and test to be a PN then a registered nurse.

At present, having the largest freshmen class in the history of Dixie State College, President Stephen D. Nadauld said Friday at a Board of Trustees meeting, the key to continued success is the retention of those students.

With the economic struggles that have effected higher education, Nadauld told trustees there are self-help solutions they can undertake to keep the college going strong.

“Number one thing is to retain students,” he said.

Along with that, Nadauld said The Board of Regents have approved one associate’s degree and one bachelor’s degree.

Reaching out to international students is also part of Nadauld’s solutions. He said he wants to bring those international students from Snow College and College of Eastern Utah to DSC to complete their education. “We are now the finishing school for many of these students and they need to rub shoulders with people of different cultures and different religions,” Nadauld said.

He also plans to reach out to Chinese students. It has already become a focus for DSC. Nadauld said The Raging Red performing group is signed up to go to China in May.

Another thing that is very important to Nadauld is the construction of the Centennial Commons Building, which he believes will bring a university feel to the DSC campus.

Donna Dillingham-Evans, executive vice president of academic services and Victor Hasfurther, science and allied health professor, approached the board requesting the discontinuance of the Practical Nursing Certificate program, effective spring 2011.

Hasfurther said students are required to be a certified nursing assistant. Students move through the program and test to be a PN then a registered nurse.

“A lot of these students get hired as certified nursing assistants, but they go through the program for a year, and if they pass the (PN) test they’re fired (from their job),” he said. “The requirements of a PN eliminates them from a CNA job, therefore they have to let them go.”

Hasfurther added the hospitals are saying they have to hire the students at the level they’re at.

Max Rose, superintendent for Washington County School District, said he knows the PN ladder has turned students away from the program because it’s an annoyance. “I applaud this immensely because this will help our kids immeasurably,” he said. Nadauld agreed.

“It keeps them (students) from getting into this Catch-22 situation where they get more information but they lose their job,” he said.

The positive outcomes of eliminating the program, Nadauld said is they’ll be able to educate more students and it’s important to move forward. Dillingham-Evans said if someone still wants to get a PN certificate they can still test for it. (source)