LAYTON -- The nursing shortage may get a little less acute, soon, thanks to Weber State University's expansion of its program at WSU-Davis. Come August, a new nursing laboratory and classroom will be available at the Davis campus, here. It will initially mean 20 more slots, plus faculty, and training opportunities at Davis County hospitals, ex-plains Dr. Debra Huber, chair of the WSU nursing department.

"It will be a permanent satellite campus," she said, joining a dozen other sites across the state. Two additional faculty members are being hired with an associate degree as part of the initial Davis campus offering.

Huber is hopeful the full slate of nursing options will be available at Davis Campus within one-two years.

In the meantime, cooperative clinical training and other efforts are in place with South Davis Community Hospital in Bountiful and Layton's Davis Hospital. Ogden Regional Med- ical Center will also be participating.

"Our students have to have hands-on, supervised training. It's critical to have access to hospitals and clinics," Huber said. "We will expand our clinical from weekdays only to evenings and Saturdays, probably have nurses training around the clock.

"The hospitals are very excited about us doing that. We have been very fortunate," the Farmington resident said of training opportunities.

The hospitals have also donated equipment that will be used in the on-campus lab. "They've invested so much, I'm really grateful for what they do," Huber said.

"The whole mission is to address the needs of Davis County," Huber said. In addition to working with area hospitals, including a strong relationship with Lakeview, WSU will work closely with the Davis Applied Technology College, as well.

"Davis Hospital has developed a very strong alliance with the DATC PN (practical nurse) graduates. If they (DATC students) meet our mission criteria for our RN program, they can advance to our second-year RN program directly from their (DATC) program," Huber said.

"The 20 additional students are happy campers," she said of the nursing shortage. "We have 275 qualified students for 90 (total WSU) slots.

"There is a tremendous demand for increasing the numbers for every nursing program in the state," she said. "The vast majority of our students come from Davis County."

State and federal accreditation and nursing board recommendations mandate one faculty member for every 10 students. Nursing faculty also must have at least a master's degree.

It was WSU President F. Ann Millner herself who contacted Huber and Bruce Davis, director of the Davis campus, to expand the program.

Huber is also hoping that "nursing initiative funds" being discussed in the Legislature will get approved, providing more money to establish the program on the Davis campus.

tbusselberg@davisclipper.com