Central Vermont Medical Center helps nursing students learn on the job

BERLIN, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermont has been facing a nursing shortage for years, especially as the pandemic continues, but one program that began right before the pandemic is working to retain nurses who are studying at the same time.

The Central Vermont Medical Center said they generally have 100 nursing openings to make it easier on the organization at any time.

CVMC partnered with the Community College of Vermont and Vermont Techincal College in 2019 to give an opportunity for students to become licensed practical nurses while working at CVMC at the same time.

Madison Crown says she’s always wanted to be a nurse.

“I’ve always really liked getting to know people and watching them progress,” said Crown, a licensed practical nurse at Central Vermont Medical Center.

She wanted to find a way to learn while working to retain as much information as possible, so she joined the Licensed Practical Nurse Pathway program at CVMC.

“It made it more accessible and it made it easier to go into the program, get my license, and start working because you have job security, not only because you’re a nurse but you have a job waiting for you here,” said Crown.

Twenty people have graduated since the program began in 2019. It’s a two-year commitment where nurses take classes at CCV and VTC. CVMC prepays for tuition, fees and textbooks for the first year and students pay for the second. Students are placed in CVMC locations where they get paid a full workweek at CMVC even if some of that workweek is spent studying or in class.

Crown works in Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing in Berlin.

“I just really enjoy being able to have the security and knowing that there’s something waiting once I get done school,” said Crown.

The program was created to give opportunities to all types of learners.

“A lot of them had been wanting to go to nursing school for a long time and had been trying but to be able to take the time off while raising a family, while being needing to work full time is a really hard balance to achieve,” said Megan Foster, the CVMC workforce development coordinator.

Foster said with an increased nursing shortage due to an older generation retiring and complications from the pandemic, having staff learn while working is invaluable help for the medical center.

“They’re being able to learn in the areas that they’re working in today. And they see habits apply so, by the time they graduate, they’ve already gone through the orientation, they’ve already met those pieces, and they’re that much further along and ready to be able to deliver that patient care independently,” said Foster.

There are also options for students to continue the program to advance higher in the nursing degrees, like getting their RN and their BSN.

Foster also said this program has created blueprints for others in the medical field. She said they’ll be starting one for surgical techs and they’re in the design phase for medical laboratory technicians.

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