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Nursing course to help students decide
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Posted on Feb 02 1999
A single-semester course on nursing offered at the Northern Marianas College may help students decide to become nurses.
Eleven students are currently enrolled which is the highest number for the nursing assistant course and school official hopes that their attendance will encourage them to proceed to nursing.
“I think they want to go to nursing but they want to see if that’s what they like,” Nursing Director Debbie Raumakita said.
Her department has been struggling to attract students in spite of the campaigns made to promote nursing among high school students. The Board of Regents is also pushing for an increase in enrollment to attract support from the government and allow NMC to offer a four-year course.
She believes that this nursing assistant course offers a win-win situation to students.
The only prerequisite requirement for the course is a high school diploma. However, after completing the semester, its graduates can also seek employment from the Commonwealth Health Center as nursing assistants.
According to Raumakita, nursing assistants receive between $10,000 to $13,000 each year which will require them to help the real nurse.
However, the wide disparity in the annual salary between nursing assistants and nurses will help encourage students to proceed to the nursing degree.
