Could Wilmington's successful high school nurse aide program flatline?

Registered nurses teaching in New Hanover County high schools are resigning amid changes they believe are disrupting a program that was working just fine.

In August, the New Hanover County school board approved a contract with Novant Health to give students in the decades old nurse aide certification programs, taught at New Hanover County high schools, the opportunity to work in acute care units at the hospital.

Staff assigned to oversee the program say students are being pulled from the successfully run programs, which traditionally occurred in long term care facilities. The shift, they say, is putting stress on teachers to get additional training they didn’t previously need.

“As an expert in the field of nurse aide education, I am concerned why I was not consulted regarding this decision,” said Margaret Gambino, a registered nurse and former teacher, said at a recent school board meeting. “Do any of you know what it is like to bring a teenager into a clinical setting?”

A memorandum of understanding between the county and Novant Health approved in August allows students working toward nursing aide certifications to get clinical hours at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

In the past, they did so in nursing homes in their community, where patients were not in need of acute medical care.

Ashley High School career development coordinator Emilie Pridgen said that so far, at least three teachers who are also registered nurses, have resigned from the district, including Gambino, who directed the Ashley nurse aide program for two decades.

Others have resigned from Hoggard and Laney, said Pridgen, who also spoke at the recent school board meeting. She added that there appears to be no interest in the open positions.

Additional teachers are threatening to resign from their positions over the added stress the change has caused, other teachers told the board.

Pridgen said some teachers were threatened with termination of their positions if they did not attend trainings required by Novant Health over the summer, and others said they still had not received answers on whether the district would fund liability insurance required by Novant.

“Why are these teachers being pushed out? The rest of the teachers will leave if this mandate or policy remains in place,” Pridgen said. “You will lose your health science programs. I already cannot promise students a program next semester.”

At last week's board meeting, administrators said the agreement was reached with Novant because it was a good opportunity for students, and the district planned to compensate teachers for attending the trainings over the summer. They did not address if there would be consequences for teachers who did not attend those trainings.

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Chief Academic Officer Patrice Faison said the district was working to determine if it needed to cover additional liability insurance requirements as outlined by Novant. Faison told the board her staff heard the concerns of teachers and is working to address the issue as soon as this spring.

Novant Health pushed back against the claims. Holly Reynolds, manager of nursing professional development at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center told the board the hospital has a similar program with Brunswick County Schools that has proven very successful.

Reynolds said the hospital is excited to bring additional students in to work in geriatric units.

But teachers insisted they want answers for why the district meddled with a program that had run smoothly for two decades.

“I’m the third (to resign),” Gambino told the school board. “More are going to follow me, I can promise you that.”

Contact reporter Sydney Hoover at shoover@gannett.com or on Twitter @sydneymhoover. Join the Education Issues in Southeastern North Carolina Facebook group to stay up-to-date on education news.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Teachers resign over changes to high school nurse aide program