Sept 26 2008
PIMA MEDICAL INSTITUTE LAUNCHES TUCSON-BASED NURSING DEGREE PROGRAM
Private Sector Responds to Local and Regional Nursing Graduate Shortage
TUCSON, AZ - Tucson-based Pima Medical Institute (PMI), one of the west's leading allied health care colleges, is announcing its Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program. Enrollment for the 24-month ADN degree program is under way, with the first graduating class of 30 students from the Tucson campus planned for 2010. PMI program graduates will be ready to fill registered nursing positions in Tucson and throughout Arizona.
"Pima Medical Institute has the faculty and facilities to immediately offer students a nursing education," said Jeannine Hayduk, Director of Pima Medical Institute's Associate Degree Nursing Program. PMI is accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools and licensed by the Arizona State Board for Private Post Secondary Education. A new, state- of-the-art nursing lab was recently installed at PMI Tucson in preparation for the program launch.
There are more than 400 potential nursing students in Tucson currently on waiting lists for admission to nursing programs at public colleges, according to Pima Medical Institute’s chief executive officer, Dick Luebke, Jr. “We’re pleased to offer Tucson’s nursing students another option for obtaining a nursing degree and starting a career.”
PMI is responding to the nursing shortage in Arizona as a result of aging baby boomers, the population’s growing need for healthcare, and the lack of nursing programs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a million new and replacement nurses will be needed by 2016; The Hospital Council of Southern Arizona in 2005 found that for each year through 2010, southern Arizona needs 150 more nursing school graduates per year than is currently available.
PMI’s Associate Degree Nursing graduates will be prepared to work in a variety of patient care settings including hospitals, medical centers, extended care centers, and home health agencies. Graduates will also be eligible to sit for the National Council Licensing Examination for Registered Nursing, administered by the Arizona State Board of Nursing.
PMI is one of the premier medical career colleges in the western United States with campuses in Albuquerque, Chula Vista, Colorado Springs, Denver, Las Vegas, Mesa, Renton, Seattle, and Tucson. The privately owned, nationally-accredited school provides students with a well-rounded education embracing theoretical classroom studies, as well as on-site education at medical facilities that mirror the working environment they will pursue after graduation.
Additional information is available at (520) 326-1600 and pmi.edu.
Contact:
Contact: Jeannine Hayduk, Director Associate Degree Nursing Program
Phone: (520) 318-2214 direct
Email: JHayduk@pmi.edu
