A rising demand for careers in medical and health fields has pushed Dominican University to reinvest in its River Forest campus.
Recently, the University announced the opening of its new College of Health Sciences, which is designed to address the nationwide need for more healthcare professionals.
Included in the college are undergraduate degree programs in nursing, medical studies and nutrition and dietetics, as well as a new master’s degree in physician assistant studies. The physician assistant’s program has been accredited to enroll its first students early next year.
“Our first students are arriving in January,” interim Dean of the College of Health Sciences Dan Beach said. “We’re planting the seeds, and we’re still quite young.”
Though it has yet to officially open, Dominican’s physician assistant studies program has already attracted hundreds of applicants for a precious few open slots.
“We had about 450 applicants for 30 spaces,” Beach said. “They were such a well-qualified group.”
The physician assistant program prepares students to work alongside medical doctors to treat and prevent illness and injury, according to a news release. Students will receive the training that will allow them to order tests, prescribe medications, conduct exams, provide counsel on preventative care and assist with surgeries.
“The program offers a lot of flexibility,” said Richard Salcido, founding director of physician assistant studies. “They can do everything a physician does as long as they’re under supervision of a physician, even surgery. Within two years, the hospitals will be choosing the physician assistants they want to be working for them.”
According to Beach, the applicants included Army veterans, students who worked as EMTs and some who served on foreign health mission trips.
Dominican’s nursing program, which continues to run under the new college, was introduced in 2014 to address student demand and the need for nursing professionals with college degrees. The program graduated its first class in May, and saw enrollment triple after one year.
The program includes a partnership with Rush Oak Park Hospital, as well as other local medical centers, where students gain first-hand experience.
“Rush Oak Park has really opened their arms to us,” said Debra Gurney, executive director of nursing. “It’s really nice for our graduates, and our graduates are nice for them too.”
According to Gurney, of the 12 recent graduates the program produced, Rush Oak Park has hired three of them.
“We’ve gone from 18 nursing students three years ago to 102 now in the pipeline,” Gurney said. “Nursing is the number one most sought after major at Dominican, and there’s a nursing shortage in the country.”
The program has also gone from six full-time faculty to 15 additional adjunct faculty members to address rising enrollment, Gurney said.
The university’s nutrition and dietetics program provides a wide range of internship opportunities, and includes a collaboration with the city of Chicago’s Head Start program, college administrators said.
The most noticeable change on campus can be seen on the fourth floor of Parmer Hall, which was renovated to recreate the experience of working in a hospital setting. The new space contains cutting-edge simulations laboratories, robotic facsimiles of patients and common spaces for students and faculty to gather.
Once the college is up and running, university officials hope it can enroll as many as 750 students.
More information about Dominican’s new College of Health Sciences is available at www.dom.edu.
Twitter: @steveschering
