Keiser University’s Graduate School is pleased to announce its new Master of Science degree in Physician Assistant (P. A.) program. The university has been awarded provisional accreditation by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). Provisional accreditation is the status awarded to new programs that meet the rigorous standards established by the ARC-PA. This program is an intense study of patient care, theory, science and practice, combining didactic, laboratory and clinical study and experience.

Keiser University has a proven history of meeting the workforce demands of our state and local employers,” stated Belinda Keiser, Vice Chancellor for Community Relations and Student Advancement. “The access and affordability of quality health care in our nation is of the utmost concern for all Americans and it is our privilege to educate the future physician’s assistants that will be part of the solution to some of the challenges facing our current system,” she added.

According to the Department of Labor, the employment opportunities are expected to grow for physician assistants by 27 percent through 2016.

The first year is an intense study of basic sciences and clinically related didactic course work. The clinical year provides students with experience in emergency medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, family medicine, internal medicine, long-term care and one elective.

Students will come from a health care background, seeking positions as members of a health care team practicing medicine under the supervision of a physician in a variety of settings,” stated Dr. Helen Martin, Program Director.

This master’s degree is designed to meet the needs of students with regionally accredited baccalaureate degrees and appropriate required prerequisites. The deadline for application into Keiser University’s P. A. January 2010 class is December 18, 2009. Qualified applicants may apply either online at

KeiserUniversity.edu/GraduateSchool/PA, contact Manuel Christiansen toll free at 1-866-306-2172 or in person at our Graduate Campus located at 1900 W. Commercial Blvd, Ft. Lauderdale.



Technology professionals for the health services industry are in high demand, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. According to the Bureau, the health information technology occupation is among the fastest growing in the U.S. through 2008, due to new federal health information privacy regulations, which have fueled an even greater demand for the profession.

Organizations in many industries are increasing their reliance on technology, and the Florida health services industry is no exception. Hospitals, medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and medical research laboratories all require qualified technology workers who understand the industry’s unique needs. Clinicians and IT professionals with an understanding of the health care industry tend to be the most qualified candidates for information specialist positions at hospitals.

In response to the increasing demand for technology professionals with an understanding of health-related fields, DeVry University/South Florida offers two bachelor’s degree programs in biomedical engineering technology and biomedical informatics and an associate degree program in health information technology.

The biomedical engineering technology baccalaureate degree program involves the design, implementation and maintenance of health services components, such as medical imaging systems or computer-based systems used during surgery or intensive care. The program provides students an understanding of biological processes, as well as skills in both engineering software and hardware.

The biomedical informatics baccalaureate degree program draws on computer technology, information technology, the biosciences and health care systems to prepare graduates for professional positions in two specialized fields of biomedical and health care informatics. Bioinformatics focuses on developing and managing information systems used in areas such as genomic research, forensics, and pharmaceutical and agricultural development. The second type of professional position for which DeVry University graduates are prepared is health care informatics, which combines knowledge of information technology, health care systems and life sciences to develop effective and efficient use of information to implement improved health care systems. Graduates in this program will apply advanced computer and information technology to biomedical and health care data systems.

Health data management and the information technology that supports healthcare record keeping are major components of the growing discipline of health information technology. DeVry’s associate degree program in this field will educate graduates who are able to analyze and manage healthcare data, implement applications software to support healthcare data analysis and management, as well as perform complex clinical coding tasks.

Long-term trends, such as the aging of the nation’s population and the increasing importance of technology to diagnostic and therapeutic applications, are driving the need for this type of expertise. As a result, graduates of DeVry’s programs will be well-positioned for long-term career success.”



Nursing “boot camp” starts this fall

Health care workers on the coast think the nursing shortage is bad there, but it’s much worse in the county’s rural communities. That’s why Palm Beach Community College is establishing a registered nursing program at its location in Belle Glade.

“We have a 25 percent vacancy rate for nurses,” said Mary Weeks, chief nursing officer for Glades General Hospital in Belle Glade. “We’ve offered incentives like sign-on bonuses and recruited nurses from as far away as the Philippines, but the nurses often don’t stay. We’re trying to keep an experienced base, but there are too many temptations out there. It’s hard to retain nurses other than those who grow up in the community.”

Hendry Medical Center in Clewiston has provided nursing scholarships for residents for the past 15 years, said Sue Seeley, chief nursing officer, but they’re still experiencing a shortage.

The Glades Initiative Partnership Council, the county Health Care District, the Everglades Area Health Education Centers from Nova Southeastern University, Glades General and Hendry hospitals, and an “access committee” of citizens from South Bay, Pahokee, Belle Glade and Clewiston first met three years ago, each pledging to do their part to establish the RN program at PBCC in Belle Glade. The program is scheduled to begin in January 2006.

The deadline for students to apply to the new RN program in Belle Glade is October 1, said Joanne Masella, registered nursing program coordinator. “We’re all pulling together—business people, health care providers, politicians and educators—for our rural areas to have their own health care that ranks with that on the coast. It makes more sense that people who are committed to the community will be committed to its health care.”

PBCC has converted the RN program’s prerequisite courses to online classes to provide access to rural students and upgraded the laboratory from the practical nursing (PN) program that began in 2001 (and has graduated three classes of practical nurses so far) to a combination PN/RN lab. The College has installed videoconferencing equipment to make it possible for RN students to be connected to the nursing lecture classes at PBCC in Lake Worth. This fall, the College will offer a “boot camp” program in Belle Glade to prepare students for the rigors of the nursing program.



By 2011 Florida will need an estimated additional 41,584 RNs. While nursing schools are encouraged by the increased interest and number of applications, they can do little to remedy the looming nursing shortage. Compounding the issue are regional and national accreditation standards that have introduced higher standards for faculty educational preparation. To be responsive to the state’s nursing workforce needs, nursing schools need assistance in creating a pipeline for future nurse educators, and assuring that current faculty are not lost from the faculty pool because of their educational preparation level.

The SUCCEED Grant is a collaborative project between Nova Southeastern University (NSU), Broward Community College (BCC) and Barry University (BU). Using the online Master’s of Nursing program designed at NSU, the hope is to increase the number of qualified faculty this year by expanding the education of those qualified nursing faculty members who are currently employed, so they can continue teaching tomorrow’s nurses. Additionally, the project will create a conduit for new nursing faculty to meet the state’s future nursing workforce needs.

Dr. Diane Whitehead, Nursing Department Chair, NSU College of Allied Health and Nursing

NSU will continue to support each project partner’s unique educational program so that a seamless, accelerated path for current and new faculty is created. Broward Community College will continue to educate AND nurses who will be mentored to become faculty by faculty at BCC, Indian River, Palm Beach and Edison Community Colleges, as well as NSU and BU. These future faculty members will enter the RN to BSN program at NSU along with future faculty from throughout the state via the online RN to BSN program.

Graduates, especially those working full-time in hospitals and interested in part-time adjunct clinical faculty positions at community colleges, will complete the MSN online through NSU or on campus at BU. Promising MSN graduates will be mentored to continue their preparation for university-level nursing education through BU’s Ph.D. nursing program.

Mentoring is key to establishing a successful pipeline of nursing faculty for Florida. Nova Southeastern University and Barry University program directors mentor future faculty through meetings at BCC, mentoring of MSN students at NSU who are faculty members at community colleges, a faculty development conference at NSU, and the “shadow” program wherein future faculty spend a day with a current faculty member.

Qualified faculty from each project site will serve as adjunct or guest faculty for the other sites, serving as guest lecturers, preceptors, faculty or dissertation/thesis committee members. A project coordinator (PC) at each site is responsible for advertising and recruiting students into the project. PCs provide support by advising, securing faculty, and coordinating courses. All three schools fully participate in all aspects of the recruitment and retention activities related to the overall project.

Nursing schools must engage in creative, collaborative approaches to produce and retain nursing faculty. Joint ventures sharing faculty, resources, and teaching-learning strategies and offering programs across all areas of Florida will create more responsive and supportive programs to attract and prepare our state’s future nurse educators who are essential in relieving the nursing shortage.



Officials at Florida International University have announced that the School of Nursing has become a free-standing college.

The newly formed College of Nursing & Health Sciences results from the reorganization of the former College of Health & Urban Affairs (CHUA) – which had included the School of Nursing – into three independent colleges. The motion to restructure CHUA was unanimously approved by the Faculty Senate on a meeting held September 9, and approved by University Provost Dr. Ronald Berkman on September 19.

Divina Grossman, PhD, RN, ARNP, FAAN, currently Dean of the School of Nursing, will become Executive Dean of the College of Nursing & Health Sciences. The new College will be comprised of the following programs: Nursing, Communication Science & Disorders, Health Information Management, Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy, and Health Sciences (general).

The School of Nursing’s conversion to an autonomous academic College comes as FIU’s nursing program prepared to celebrate its 25th Anniversary in 2007. “This move represents a defining moment in the history of our nursing program, providing us with additional autonomy and resources, and putting us on par with other top nursing education institutions around the country,” said Grossman. She added, “But the change also presents the entire College with a collective and unique opportunity to achieve synergies of resources and knowledge across all of the health-related disciplines that are not part of the College. Interdisciplinary collaboration within the College will advance the level of teaching, research and educational opportunities we can provide to all students, which translates into a higher quality of health care service from all of our graduates.”