The Los Angeles NRC
is a collaborative effort between the Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) and the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care. Please visit our websites!
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California Institute for Nursing & Health Care
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| Grant Support
Implementation of the CCPS in LA county was funded in part by a grant (#06-0117-04) from the Chancellor's Office, California Community Colleges for $95,000. This grant covered the 2008 & 2009 FCCC annual licensing fees for all RN schools in LA County who used CCPS. With the completion of the grant this year, RN Schools will begin to pay the annual licensing fees starting in 2110.
Matching resources were provided by CINHC and College of the Canyons for local project management support and coordination to launch the program.
A grant from the UniHealth Foundation supported the annual licensing fees for hospitals in 2008 and the cost of Program Coordination in 2009.
As initial grant funding ends, the costs of covering CCPS will transition and be paid by participating sites. Hospitals and LVN Schools will pay an annual fee for the first time starting this September, and RN schools will be charged a fee starting in 2010.
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| Contact Information |
| Regional Outreach & General Information
Carolyn Orlowski, RN MSN
Regional Coordinator CINHC
310-714-9242
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| Do you want to use CCPS at your Hospital or Nursing School? Are you a placement coordinator using CCPS for the first time?
Classes are available now:
August 17, 19, 24, or 27.
Classes are provided twice a year in February and August. Please contact carolyn@cinhc.org or call 310-714-9242 to register for a CCPS class. |
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CCPS Coordinator Corner
The next clinical placement cycle starts soon!
Aug 17 to 28
Hospitals extend unit
and preceptor availability
Schools Request Placements for Jan-August 2010 schedules
Sept 21 to Oct 2
Hospitals review and respond to placement requests
Join coordinators from other regions around the country in a 1 hour Web Ex Program provided monthly by the FCCC Help Desk as an option to stay current and participate in a brief refresher...... from the convenience of your own computer desktop and phone!
WebEx Session Dates with a direct link to "Log In" are posted on the CCPS Home Page !
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Status of the Nursing Shortage and Implications for the Effective Management of Clinical Placements
The number of nurses needed in California to meet the populations future healthcare needs remains a priority. Significant progress has been made over the past few years with nursing schools ramping up to meet the projected demands. California currently ranks 45th in the nation for the number of RN's per capita. The ratio of RN's to state population is currently 638 RN's per 100,000 (up from 580 in 2004). The national average of 824.
- California Economic Development Department (EDD) data indicates the number of annual RN job openings across all healthcare settings to be 9,900, with 4,426 of these in the greater Los Angeles Region.
- 60% of the job openings are related to growth, and 40% related to replacements
Significant progress has been made in addressing California's Nursing Shortage since 2004
- Capacity in schools of nursing is up 53.5% (11,969 slots)
- School enrollment has increased 69% (13,214 students)
- Completions have increased by 55% (9,526 graduates)
- There are 37 more RN schools of nursing in 2009 than in 2004
- The number of US nurses with active CA licenses is up to 349,554 (10 % increase over 2006)
Nursing growth since 2004 in the greater Los Angeles Region (LA, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino Counties)
- Capacity in RN schools has increased by 56.7% (2,100 students)
- Enrollment is up by 71.7% (2,549 students)
- Completions are up by 58% (4,154 graduates)
- There are 15 new RN programs (58 total programs at this time)
This dramatic growth in nursing has resulted in an increased need for more clinical education capacity in hospitals and clinical facilities. Hospitals have responded by scheduling students on most units 7 days a week and schools have positioned to integrate more flexible scheduling options to meet curriculum goals. Considerations that limit expanding student clinical placement capacity include: sufficient physical space to accommodate the volume of student groups, patient safety issues, hospital staffing and workforce factors, and the availability of nursing faculty.
Effective planning, coordination and scheduling of clinical placements are essential to the overall management and support of nursing growth. The complexities of working within the available clinical options while assuring the learning needs of the students are met are key responsibilities of nursing education leaders and placement coordinators. Collaboration between schools and across clinical facilities to locate and confirm clinical placements remains an important success strategy for the area. |
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Completion of Fall Placements using CCPS
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CCPS was utilized during the most recent placement planning cycle by 28 RN Schools, 4 LVN Schools, and 32 Clinical Facilities, and the user group has grown with 120 nursing education leaders and placement coordinators from schools and hospitals involved in placement planning decisions.
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255 Clinical Courses were processed for the upcoming fall/winter 2009 period for 459 Cohort Groups (each with 10-12 students), and scheduled across a total of 944 hospital units. This is a 49% increase in courses scheduled in CCPS since the prior cycle when 133 Clinical Courses were scheduled.
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The final schedules posted for fall indicate various shifts and days of the week however 8 hour day shifts remain the most prevalent: 8 hour day shifts 62%, 12 hour shifts 27%, 8 hour evening shifts 11%.
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All 7 days of the week are options for placements in most hospitals and school schedules with the highest utilization are generally mid week: Monday 9%, Tuesday 18%, Wednesday 21%, Thursday 19%, Friday 14%, Saturday 11%, and Sunday 8%.
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Hospitals have posted over 400 preceptor assignments available for schools to request. |
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CCPS Coordinators Forum
The Los Angeles Nursing Resource Center hosted the third CCPS Coordinators Forum August 5th at the California Endowment Conference Center in downtown Los Angeles. The Forum is held twice a year for all schools and hospitals using the CCPS, and is scheduled between each of the regional clinical placement cycles.
This summer's session opened with an update on the status of the nursing shortage and a review of the significant growth in nursing programs in California - with emphasis on the greater Los Angeles area. Understanding the pattern of growth over the past few years and the need to sustain future growth highlights the significance of working collaboratively to effectively manage the clinical placement process. A coordinated regional approach to capacity planning remains a key strategy for success to identify available unused placements as options for new schools or additional cohort groups while prioritizing existing historical placements.
Survey Results
Results of the CCPS Coordinators Survey conducted in June/July were reviewed. Most of those responding to the survey have been responsible for clinical placement planning for 1-3 years and understand the challenges of nursing placement planning during this time of growth. 85% of those responding have used CCPS for 2 planning cycles, and 19% have used CCPS since it was implemented in LA early in 2008.
CCPS is the only placement planning tool utilized by 36% of those responding, while 50% indicate they use CCPS as well as other internal systems - partly because some "affiliated" partners are not using CCPS at this time - prompting the use of traditional manual scheduling steps. New enhancements to the CCPS Tool implemented this year were found to be helpful and used by several of the coordinators including: Historical Placement Wizard (54%), Re-Proposal option (64%), exact student counts (36%), easy to view notes and information (39%). Ready-made reports such as the Placement Calendar or School Proposal report increased the ability of coordinators to manage the information (54%).
Coordinators reported that the placement process using CCPS takes the same or less time (62%) than other methods, while first time users acknowledge that learning the system and transitioning internal processes takes more time initially. 32% of those responding indicated that the number of students, schools, or schedules has increased or stayed the same (61%), while (0%) have experienced a decrease in placements.
Barriers cited that limit additional placements include: suitable units already saturated with students (71%), clinical unit capacity reduced by the number of new nurses on orientation (27%), unit construction or relocation (27%), limited size of certain units (25%), or the number of students per unit (18%), and faculty shortages limiting growth (18%).
When asked "How has the LA Area benefited from using CCPS"? - Coordinators responded:
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Increase in communication between schools and hospitals (75%)
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Availability of information on existing schedules and placement patterns regionally (50%)
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Greater transparency in the student scheduling process (50%)
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Standardization of the scheduling and placement process across facilities (46%)
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Availability of information on regional placement capacity & options for growth (21%)
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Increase in communication between clinical facilities (21%)
A complete copy of the survey report has been provided to all participating sites.
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Welcome to New Schools and Clinical Facilities!
The benefits of utilizing CCPS to support nursing growth and the value of identifying available capacity as a region will be facilitated as more hospitals and schools utilize this approach. The addition of LVN schools this year makes it possible to now view schedules from all participating nursing schools and hospitals and identify options for clinical placement.
CCPS is now the scheduling process for RN schools in LA County, however there is opportunity to improve regional planning by encouraging more hospitals and clinical facilities to adopt CCPS and to get started now. Registration for new sites is underway at this time with classes scheduled throughout August. Clinical placements will be processed in September across the region - based on an established regional planning calendar - for the January through August 2010 school schedules.
Who is using CCPS now?
Please visit www.LANRC.org and click on the CCPS link for a complete list of all participating schools and clinical facilities.
Classes for new sites & new CCPS users are offered twice a year prior to each clinical placement cycle. Classes are 3 hours long and conducted in a computer lab setting. Morning (9 AM -12 Noon) and afternoon (1-4 PM) sessions are available.
Please Contact carolyn@cinhc.org for additional information on CCPS, classes available, or to register your school or clinical facility to begin using CCPS. |
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