State certifies Chaminade's fledgling nursing program
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer
Chaminade University yesterday took a step toward alleviating what is projected to be a significant nursing shortage with the opening of its new school of nursing.
The Hawaii State Board of Nursing yesterday gave Chaminade the nod yesterday to open the school of nursing, which is scheduled to graduate its first class of 72 students in 2014.
This is the first new school to be added to Chaminade's Kaimukī campus in recent memory, said Kapono Ryan, university spokeswoman. The school has a rolling enrollment, which enables applicants to continue to apply.
"This is a major expansion for Chaminade," Ryan said. "It's a growing demand. And the demand grows daily. There's so many applications."
The new school will join the University of Hawai'i-Mānoa and Hawai'i Pacific University as schools that award the bachelor's of nursing science degree.
The Hawai'i State Center for Nursing last year reported that the state had a shortage of about 858 nurses in 2005. The group projected that the shortage would grow to 1,447 this year, 2,120 by 2015 and 2,669 by 2020.
"We're hoping our nurses will make a significant impact on the shortage and workforce here in Hawai'i and the Pacific Islands," said Stephanie Genz, Chaminade University dean for nursing. "The other piece of our program will be service out in the community doing clinicals and learning and helping in that way."
The new school will be named the Sallie Y. Miyawaki School of Nursing, in honor of the late wife of Dr. Edison Miyawaki, who endowed the school with $5 million in November 2009. The curriculum will focus on patient care, computer skills, genomics and the ability to process information previously reserved for geneticists and bioinformation specialists, geriatrics and be culturally competent.
A $1 million gift from Dr. Lawrence K.W. Tseu helped with the final construction of the school, which will be housed in an existing building on campus.
"It's really an exciting day," Genz said. "We received our Phase 1 approval in September. I've been working on this since then to meet the requirements of the Board of Nursing."
