Air Force partners with University Hospital to ready nurses for deployment

  • Published
  • By Mike Frangipane
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
CINCINNATI --  University Hospital Cincinnati and the U.S. Air Force inaugurated a new program Oct. 7 to provide newly graduated registered nurses the advanced clinical training and experience needed to become Air Force Nurse Corps officers and to prepare them for deployment.

University Hospital is the first civilian hospital to partner with the Air Force in The Nurse Transition Program (NTP).

Last week's ribbon cutting ceremony marked the induction of the first 10-member class of Air Force nurses into the program. NTP is an 11-week comprehensive training curriculum that will expose Air Force nurses to a spectrum of medical/surgical clinical inpatient settings aimed at preparing them for what they will encounter in the field as well as allowing them to hone skills needed for base hospitals and clinics. 

"I can't begin to underscore the value of this program," said Brig. Gen. Richard R. Hersack, Air Force Materiel Command command surgeon at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. 

"For the Air Force Medical Service recapitalization means skilled people," Hersack said. "Part of that recapitalization involves building and maintaining critical nursing skills so that we can continue to deploy and contribute to the joint en route care system, to insure that our troops get the best medical care available when they are injured, to stabilize them and get them back home."

Hersack said the Air Force does not currently have the clinical opportunities at Air Force facilities to meet all of those needs. Partnerships with civilian trauma hospitals allows Air Force medical providers to gain the clinical experience, training and background needed to provide deployed care to troops injured in combat as well as humanitarian medical care in austere environments.

"The cooperative effort begun today provides the Air Force Nurse Corps an opportunity to partner with our civilian colleagues in developing a training program for nurses that have recently completed their Bachelor of Arts degree in nursing," said Col. Kimberly K. Siniscalchi, incoming Assistant Air Force Surgeon General, Medical Force Development, and Assistant Air Force Surgeon General for Nursing Services. "They are able to come here for their advanced clinical skills training before going on to active duty. University Hospital has such a variety of clinical areas that we do not always have at our military hospitals so it provides diversity of clinical exposure and training for our young nurses." 

With the NTP partnership of Air Force and University Hospital, Cincinnati, the advanced training of Air Force nurses promises the best of care for American troops worldwide, Air Force officials said. 

The program includes both teaching and clinical components. 

"Teaching is very important," said Lee Ann Liska, Executive Director & Senior Vice President, UH-Cincinnati."We do that every day with nurses and physicians. To be able to expand that to a different core of nurses is special. NTP is an extension of a long term relationship with the Air Force. It is exciting to get into nurse education, but it is also, very important for us to have the opportunity to give back to our service men and women for all they give us in terms of freedom every day. And I really mean that. That is the honor of being a part of this program." 

Cooperating with the Air Force in training programs is not new to University Hospital. The hospital has had a long relationship with the Air Force in its C-STARS (Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills) program. C-STARS is a joint University Hospital and Air Force program providing training for military personnel in trauma and critical care skills. There other C-STARS programs are located in Baltimore and St. Louis.

Col. Kimberly A. Slawinski, commander of the 88th Medical Group and Wright-Patterson Medical Center said Cincinnati is well known for its nursing programs and the new NTP builds on the success of C-STARS.  "To come here and be able to do this is significant," she said.

University Hospital, Cincinnati is part of the Health Alliance which serves Greater Cincinnati, providing in and outpatient services for more than 500,000 patients per year. It has the area's only adult Level I Trauma Center with helicopter ambulance service and is ranked in U.S. News & World Report's annual guide to America's Best Hospitals.