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 Funds Will Support Expansion of Accelerated BSN Program

ATLANTA – Tenet Healthcare Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC), and Tenet Georgia announced today that they have awarded more than $528,000 to expand the accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at Georgia State University’s Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing. A luncheon will be held on Thursday, January 29, 2004 at the Commerce Club to celebrate the charitable contribution.

Georgia State University’s accelerated nursing program was created to help answer the critical shortage of nurses in Atlanta and the state of Georgia. The Georgia Hospital Association reported that in 2003, there was an RN vacancy rate of 14%. The Department of Health and Human Services predicts this shortage will only worsen, with Georgia predicted to have a vacancy rate of 32% by 2015. Currently, the nurse vacancy rate in metro-Atlanta stands at 14%.

“One of the serious challenges posed by the national nursing shortage is the limited amount of resources available to train nurses to meet the additional demand,” said Gregory H. Burfitt, Senior Vice President of Operations for Tenet Georgia. “Our relationship with the outstanding program at the Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing is part of our joint commitment to address this problem in Georgia.”

In August 2002, Georgia State University (GSU) accepted the first class of 28 accelerated bachelor’s degree nursing students. In the fall of 2003, the second class of accelerated students nearly doubled in size, with 48 students admitted, straining the resources of the current faculty. Current funding expired in December 2003, making it difficult for the school to accommodate more than 28 students in the accelerated program in the future.

“Tenet is working with deans of schools of nursing to create or expand accelerated BSN programs and generate a new supply of qualified nurses in communities most impacted by the nursing shortage,” said Lauren Arnold, Tenet’s vice president of nursing. “The typical second-degree nursing student is highly motivated, more mature, and has a strong academic foundation, having already earned a bachelors degree in another field. They tend to excel in class and are eager to excel in their clinical experiences. Graduates of these programs are prized by nurse employers, who value the many layers of skill and education that they bring to the workplace.”

GSU estimates the Tenet Foundation funding will allow the accelerated program to double the number of graduates over the three-year period of the grant, from 28 to 56. The accelerated BSN program builds on previous learning experiences of students and transitions individuals who already have undergraduate degrees in other disciplines into nursing through an intensive, one-year clinical nursing program. Typically, the program attracts individuals who want to switch careers or whose previous positions have been eliminated or lost due to economic constrictions in other industries.

“This gift from Tenet, which was given out of a serious concern for the future of health care in our community, will allow our school to expand and enhance our accelerated BSN program, and ultimately will help improve quality of patient care by bringing more qualified nurses to our hospitals,” said Dr. Alice Demi, director of the Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing, Georgia State University.

The accelerated program will have a marked impact on the nursing shortage in the first couple of years of offering. A projected 112 students will graduate with bachelor’s degrees in nursing and will provide 224,000 patient care hours in Georgia.

“We applaud Tenet’s support for baccalaureate-level nursing education and its commitment to expanding capacity in accelerated nursing programs in four states,” said Geraldine “Polly” Bednash, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., executive director of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.  “Last year, more than 11,000 qualified students were turned away from professional nursing programs nationwide because schools lacked the funding needed to recruit faculty and accommodate more students.  Tenet’s commitment will enable hundreds of strong candidates to enter nursing programs and begin careers as registered nurses.”

Georgia State University was the first school in the state to receive approval for the accelerated bachelor’s degree program. The accelerated program is geared toward highly motivated students with a strong science background. The degree, which is designed to be completed in four semesters instead of the usual six, has the same number of credit hours required for completion. Due to the intensity of the program, students are required to attend full time with little to no outside employment. Many accelerated graduates and current students already hold undergraduate degrees in another major.

The $528,894 grant to GSU is part of $2.78 million in grants that the Tenet Healthcare Foundation is making over three years to support accelerated nursing programs in south Florida, Houston, El Paso, Southern California and Atlanta.

Tenet Healthcare Foundation is a charitable foundation sponsored by Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Endowed by Tenet, the Foundation directs most of its grants to help unmet healthcare needs in the communities served by facilities owned by Tenet subsidiaries. The Foundation also provides grants to various educational, social services, civic and humanities-supporting organizations nationwide.

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