Mississippi Corridor Consortium - NEON - Navigating Educational Opportunities in Nursing

The $1.9 million Department of Labor NEON (Navigating Educational Opportunities in Nursing) grant was awarded to the Consortium to help bridge the gap between demand and supply in the allied health workforce in northeast Mississippi.

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security Labor Market Information forecasts that northeast Mississippi will need to add approximately 1,000 Certified Nursing Assistants, 500 Licensed Practical Nurses and 2,000 Registered Nurses to the workforce by 2012 to meet regional demand.

Currently, the regional Registered Nursing vacancy rate is 5.2 percent and the Licensed Practical Nursing vacancy rate is 7 percent. Two significant barriers prevent the region from having an adequate supply of nurses. These barriers include too few admission slots for qualified applicants and significant attrition of enrolled students. Because it is very difficult to attract health care professionals to rural communities, the region needs to focus on increasing training slots for its residents and maximizing the number of students who complete nursing programs. The overarching goals of the NEON Grant are to increase the supply of nurses available to meet the health care needs of residents of rural northeast Mississippi and to increase the number of MSN-prepared nursing faculty members in the region.

“I have a student who is intelligent but ….She has some problems with attention deficit. She doesn’t work well in group settings, so she resisted the NEON tutoring. I finally convinced her to attend a session. Her next grade was in the 80s. She made from 82 – 92 on the remaining tests. I believe the tutoring sessions helped her learn how to get focused and study.

All the students that I sent to NEON had improved test scores…..I know that our students appreciated the chance to practice with an instructor before they were required to check off.”

--Donna Dean, Nursing Instructor

NEON Website: http://www.neonms.com

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