{"id":47104,"date":"1998-07-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1998-07-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T11:00:28","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T16:00:28","slug":"multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/FONT><\/B><\/p>\n


is Goal of UNMC’s Add-A-Competency Program<\/FONT><\/B><\/p>\n

The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s rural education program<\/p>\n

has graduated 64 students since its beginning in 1991. Of those rural program<\/p>\n

graduates, 94 percent obtained their first job in a rural area – 76 percent<\/p>\n

of those jobs were in rural Nebraska. Prior to the program, only 8 percent<\/p>\n

of the graduates took their first jobs in a rural community.<\/p>\n

UNMC has designed a program to train medical laboratory workers and<\/p>\n

allied health practitioners currently working in rural Nebraska in more<\/p>\n

than one area of health care. The focus of the program is to bring more<\/p>\n

multi-skilled allied health professionals to rural Nebraska.<\/p>\n

The three-year program is funded by a grant of more than $324,000 from<\/p>\n

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funding was awarded<\/p>\n

to the division of medical technology in UNMC’s School of Allied Health<\/p>\n

Professions. The program’s cost-effectiveness, quality care, patient satisfaction<\/p>\n

and professional development are being studied<\/p>\n


AAdd-A-Competency is designed to develop a supply of health-care professionals<\/p>\n

who have multiple skills for practice in rural Nebraska,@ said Phyllis<\/p>\n

Muellenberg, director of the medical technology program and co-director<\/p>\n

with Linda Fell of the Add-A-Competency Program.<\/p>\n

Courses offered through the program include limited scope radiography,<\/p>\n

cardiopulmonary care, advanced management\/information technology and phlebotomy\/basic<\/p>\n

lab skills. Students are only responsible for the cost of books and teaching<\/p>\n

materials.<\/p>\n

AWe’re looking at building additional skills in people who already are<\/p>\n

health-care professionals so they can be of greater benefit to their institutions,@<\/p>\n

Muellenberg said.<\/p>\n

Research shows that the greatest need in Nebraska’s rural health-care<\/p>\n

facilities is for medical technologists with additional skills in radiography.<\/p>\n

Training for eligible technologists began last summer in this discipline.<\/p>\n

A two-week course titled Limited Scope of Practice in Radiography, is<\/p>\n

being offered July 20 through 31. Twenty-eight health-care practitioners<\/p>\n

have signed up for the program. Training includes classroom instruction<\/p>\n

and conferences, and working in clinical situations, practice laboratory<\/p>\n

sessions and computer-assisted instruction. Participants are prepared for<\/p>\n

the licensure examination that will enable them to perform limited radiography<\/p>\n

procedures.<\/p>\n

The limited radiography course is being held at the Rural Health Education<\/p>\n

Distance Learning Center in Kearney, a cooperative project between UNMC<\/p>\n

and the University of Nebraska at Kearney that supports the application<\/p>\n

of distance learning technology. In conjunction with the program, new communication<\/p>\n

systems and distance learning options are being explored.<\/p>\n


Also this summer, the Cardiopulmonary Skills Module will be offered.<\/p>\n

This course will include patient assessment skills, respiratory skills,<\/p>\n

such as evaluation of lung sounds, and information on blood gases and oxygen<\/p>\n

delivery devices. EKG testing and interpretation will be offered in the<\/p>\n

fall.<\/p>\n

A full semester course in Advanced Management\/Information Technology<\/p>\n

will be offered in September, using several types of distance learning<\/p>\n

technologies. Areas of financial management, personnel management, state<\/p>\n

and federal accreditation procedures and new information technology will<\/p>\n

be covered.<\/p>\n

Administrators are looking for people who can manage and summarize data,<\/p>\n

as well as use information systems for their institutions, Muellenberg<\/p>\n

said.<\/p>\n

Muellenberg said any health-care practitioner can participate in these<\/p>\n

courses. She stressed that the program is designed to augment skills. It’s<\/p>\n

add-a-competency, not take one of these skills and make a job out of it.<\/p>\n

The Add-A-Competency program was developed following surveys and discussions<\/p>\n

conducted by SAHP representatives with rural health-care facility administrators<\/p>\n

and practitioners. The research revealed a need for multi-skilled allied<\/p>\n

health-care professionals in medical facilities throughout rural Nebraska.<\/p>\n

For the first class last summer, Fell expected 10 participants, but<\/p>\n

the program drew 23 from 18 communities throughout Nebraska and one each<\/p>\n

in Colorado and Kansas. Twenty of these professionals were laboratory personnel<\/p>\n

already employed in rural health-care facilities. The other three were<\/p>\n

students in health professions programs.<\/p>\n

UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the state.<\/p>\n

Through its commitment to research, education and patient care, UNMC has<\/p>\n

established itself as one of the country’s leading centers for cancer research<\/p>\n

and treatment and solid organ transplantation. More than $27 million in<\/p>\n

research grants and contracts are awarded to UNMC scientists annually.<\/p>\n

In addition, UNMC’s educational programs are responsible for training more<\/p>\n

health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution.<\/p>\n


 <\/p>\n<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

is Goal of UNMC’s Add-A-Competency Program The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s rural education program has graduated 64 students since its beginning in 1991. Of those rural program graduates, 94 percent obtained their first job in a rural area – 76 percent of those jobs were in rural Nebraska. Prior to the program, only 8 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nMulti-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"is Goal of UNMC's Add-A-Competency Program The University of Nebraska Medical Center's rural education program has graduated 64 students since its\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"is Goal of UNMC's Add-A-Competency Program The University of Nebraska Medical Center's rural education program has graduated 64 students since its\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1998-07-23T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-29T16:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UNMC Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UNMC Today\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UNMC Today\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621\"},\"headline\":\"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force\",\"datePublished\":\"1998-07-23T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-29T16:00:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/\"},\"wordCount\":701,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/\",\"name\":\"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"1998-07-23T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-29T16:00:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"is Goal of UNMC's Add-A-Competency Program The University of Nebraska Medical Center's rural education program has graduated 64 students since its\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/unmc\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621\",\"name\":\"UNMC Today\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/strategic-communications\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d1fe173d08e959397adf34b1d77e88d7\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force","description":"is Goal of UNMC's Add-A-Competency Program The University of Nebraska Medical Center's rural education program has graduated 64 students since its","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force","og_description":"is Goal of UNMC's Add-A-Competency Program The University of Nebraska Medical Center's rural education program has graduated 64 students since its","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"1998-07-23T05:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-29T16:00:28+00:00","author":"UNMC Today","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UNMC Today","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/"},"author":{"name":"UNMC Today","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621"},"headline":"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force","datePublished":"1998-07-23T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-29T16:00:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/"},"wordCount":701,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/","name":"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"1998-07-23T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-29T16:00:28+00:00","description":"is Goal of UNMC's Add-A-Competency Program The University of Nebraska Medical Center's rural education program has graduated 64 students since its","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/1998\/07\/23\/multi-skilled-rural-health-professional-work-force\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Multi-Skilled Rural Health Professional Work Force"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621","name":"UNMC Today","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/strategic-communications"],"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d1fe173d08e959397adf34b1d77e88d7\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75042,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47104\/revisions\/75042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}