Caring - Dartmouth-Hitchcock

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Tammy-Lynn A. Wilson is an LNA with
responsibility for her keeping her unit
stocked and in good working order. But
she wanted more. “I wanted to get on
the floor and get more one-on-one time
with patients,” says Wilson. “So, I met
with Ellen Ceppetelli, Director of Nursing
Education, and asked, ‘How can I get
my nursing license? I want to be an RN.’”
Several other nurses had similar inter-
ests. That’s when Ceppetelli met with
New Hampshire Technical College in
Claremont, NH, to arrange for a program
on the DHMC campus. Ceppetelli
spends much of her time building such
relationships. Wilson is now enrolled in
NH Tech’s two-year program at DHMC.
Time requirements vary, but typically are
one and half weekends per month and
one evening per week.
All DHMC employees are eligible for
education reimbursement. Many also
take advantage of DHMC’s loan forgiveness
program initiated last year. Borrowers
sign a contract promising to stay for
two years after graduation from whatever
program in which they are enrolled.
“The contract says that they will have a
job for us somewhere within the hospital,”
says Wilson, who will become a
registered nurse in December 2004.
Wide Range of Education Opportunities
The Office of Professional Nursing leads
a wide range of nursing and patient
education opportunities including unitspecific
nurse orientation, a Graduate
Nurse Residency Program, a Nurse
Extern Program, a regular series of
Nursing Grand Rounds lectures that earn
nursing contact hours, a Nursing Assistant
Training Program, and numerous other
continuing education activities.
“Our primary investment is to continue
educating our own staff first and foremost,”
says Ceppetelli. “That is why
we’re formalizing more opportunities for
advanced degrees and preparing for the
role changes that often come with
advanced education.” Working with
nurse training programs throughout the
Northeast, Ceppetelli is proud of
DHMC’s many partnerships: “We pro-
Nursing Education: Learning at Every Stage
Reviewers during our
Magnet site visit last
year were “blown
away” by the number of
advanced practice
nurses we have who
serve as clinical faculty.
vide a laboratory where their students
can expect to have excellent experiences
in a very rich clinical environment.”
The exposure helps DHMC, too.
“Nurses in training interact with all of our
staff, and if they come back—as they may
for full-time employment—they have a real
sense of the place,” says Karen Pushee,
RN, MA, Nursing Recruitment/Retention
Manager. Changing demographics and
the ongoing nursing shortage have influenced
many changes. “We’re hiring more
new graduate nurses,” says Pushee. “Two
years ago we had 12 new grads, last
year we took on 50, and this year we expect
as many as 100. That impacts how
we must prepare for and expand on orientation
to make sure it is truly exceptional
preparation for working on the units here.”
Research and Patient Care
In 1994, Tammy Mulrooney, MS, ARNP,
OCN, came to DHMC as an RN intending
to stay for only five years before
returning to her native Canada. Instead
she stayed and discovered a true love
for oncology nursing. Over the next two
years—along with 30 other students taking
two to three courses per semester
offered at DHMC—she earned her BSN
from the University of New Hampshire.
Then, through the Family Nurse Practitioner
Program at Boston College, Mul-