Grove City College, Cleveland Clinic Ink Nursing Agreement

GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Cleveland Clinic will permit nursing students from Grove City College to do clinical work at the globally recognized health-care provider’s hospitals and outpatient centers, under an agreement between the two institutions.  

The agreement marks a new phase for GCC’s bachelor of science in nursing program, according to a news release announcing the agreement Friday. Having such agreements in place with regional hospitals and health-care systems is necessary to deliver on the promise of the college’s BSN program, according to the release.

“This agreement provides our students with a great opportunity to learn and work in a host of settings in the Cleveland Clinic’s expansive system,” Janey Roach, nursing program director, said in the release. “The Cleveland Clinic is one of America’s greatest health care institutions and its integration of clinical and hospital care with research and education ensures our students will have a robust professional experience.”

The bachelor of science in nursing program was launched two years ago and will welcome its third class of students this fall. Members of the first class, now in their sophomore year, will be eligible soon to begin taking higher-level courses that require 30 hours of clinical experience in professional settings like those in the Cleveland Clinic system. 

Cleveland Clinic operates 19 hospitals and more than 200 outpatient centers in northeastern Ohio, southeastern Florida, Las Vegas, Canada, London and Abu Dhabi. 

Two fourth-year nursing classes – Public Health Nursing and Nursing Leadership Seminar — require the clinical component.

“For both courses, students will identify an experience that meets the course objectives,” Roach said. “The community experience could require working with clients afflicted by homelessness and/or substances abuse. The leadership course would involve working with a nurse leader in a health care environment.”

In tandem with the agreement, an anonymous donor has established a need-based scholarship for senior nursing students who want to do their clinical work at a Cleveland Clinic hospital.  

“The Pew Crile Nursing Scholarship Endowment honors the foundational leadership of two pillars of healthcare and higher education, J. Howard Pew and George Washington Crile,” Brian Powell ’03, senior director of development for the college, said. 

Pew, a member of Grove City College’s class of 1900, was an oil industry pioneer and longtime benefactor of the College. Crile founded the Cleveland Clinic in 1921.

Grove City College also reached a placement agreement with Allegheny Health Network and is in the process of finalizing pacts with other regional health systems and hospitals. To accommodate students who may look beyond the western Pennsylvania-northeastern Ohio region to complete their clinical requirements, the College will pursue additional agreements with specific hospitals and health systems as needed, Roach said.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.