SIONI
On May 1, 2009 the Illinois Board of Nursing approved the Southern Illinois Online Nursing Initiative (SIONI). SIONI is a new full-time, hybrid-online associate degree nursing program under development that hopes to address the shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in southern Illinois. RNs provide bedside care directly to patients which makes them a critical component of the healthcare system. Unfortunately, there are many challenges affecting the supply of these caregivers, including the lack of faculty, the lack of clinical space, and one factor not typically considered — the out-migration of educated nurses from a region.
SIONI, the centerpiece of the region’s “Grow Your Own” strategy, was designed for working licensed practical nurses (LPN) who wish to advance their education to become a RN. The goal of this initiative is to develop a program that would provide working (incumbent) nurses who have strong ties to the region an opportunity to advance their education and become an RN. By targeting working nurses with this program it is expected that the region will benefit by retaining more of the graduates in local jobs rather than losing them to out of state employers which is an issue with the traditional classroom program.
Community colleges working in collaboration with the Local Workforce Investment Act (LWIA) providers will reach out to local healthcare providers to identify working LPNs who would like to participate in this initiative. LWIA providers will be able to negotiate agreements with local healthcare providers to pay a significant portion of their staff’s training costs through incumbent worker training programs. The incumbent worker programs offer employers matching funds to lower the cost of providing education to their employees, which results in higher skilled and more valuable employees.
SIONI is planned to be offered at the six community colleges in the 20-county Connect SI region: Frontier Community College, John A. Logan College, Rend Lake College, Shawnee Community College, Southeastern Illinois College, and Wabash Valley College. Each participating college plans to accept 10 students this fall to begin the program in spring of 2010, and will share the online curriculum. Anyone interested in attending should contact their local college and ask about the prerequisites for this program. Employers who are interested in helping their employees pay for the SIONI program through incumbent worker training funds — or anyone interested in additional information — should contact Cary Minnis, healthcare coordinator for Connect SI.