Contact: John Nash
843.792.0687
July 31, 2003
Charleston -- The Duke Endowment has made five gifts totaling $823,292 to the
Medical University of South Carolina, enabling the institution to create a new
online nursing program and continue four existing programs developed to reach
underserved patients in South Carolina. The endowment further expressed its intent to provide these programs with an
additional $701,106 in funding next year, for a total of more than $1.52 million
by the end of fiscal 2003-2004. The Medical University developed the online education program in response to
the nursing shortage facing South Carolina and the nation as a whole, said Gail
Stuart, dean of the university’s College of Nursing. “South Carolina currently ranks 47th in the nation for total number of
nurses per 100,000 residents,” said Stuart. “Moreover, about two-thirds
of the state’s registered nurses have a two-year rather than a four-year
degree. These nurses need more advanced training in order to care for patients
in critical-care environments.” This shortage is especially troublesome in South Carolina because the state
is seeing such rapid growth among its senior citizen population, which generally
has a greater need for nursing care. Stuart said that poor access to nursing education is partly to blame for the
shortage. “Many of our potential students are already employed and have family and
financial responsibilities that occupy their daytime hours and keep them close
to home,” she said. “Several also live in rural communities and
simply can’t make the commute into Charleston to attend class.” An Internet-based curriculum makes these factors less of an obstacle to earning
a nursing degree, said Stuart. “Online learning can take place anytime,
anywhere, as long as the student has access to a computer and the Internet,”
she said. Beginning in fall 2003, the college will offer an online curriculum that will
enable registered nurses to earn their four-year bachelor’s degrees without
leaving their current nursing positions. In 2004, the college plans to introduce
other online classes that will allow working nurses to pursue their master’s
degrees in preparation for careers in nursing administration and nursing education
– fields that also have seen serious declines in their ranks. The college
also plans to offering its continuing-education programs online, helping existing
nurses to continually sharpen and update their patient care skills. In addition to the online nursing program, The Duke Endowment’s gifts
will enable the Medical University to sustain four existing programs that were
begun last year with Endowment assistance. These programs were designed to help
serve low-income and otherwise medically under-served populations throughout
South Carolina. One of the programs promotes maternity and newborn care in rural communities;
another creates hypertension specialists in communities throughout the state;
a third works to improve dental health among low-income and minority children;
and the fourth enables health care professionals in remote locations to participate
in continuing-education programs. Medical University President Ray Greenberg said that, while The Duke Endowment
has long served as a valued private-sector partner to the university, three
consecutive years of state budget cuts have made its support even more important
to the school’s ability to perform its primary health care mission. “Our role as a public teaching hospital requires that we monitor and respond
to health care needs in the community. It is a vital process that is not supported
through traditional health care reimbursement,” said Greenberg. “That is why philanthropic investments such as these are so important
– because they lead to new programs that continually raise the standard
of public health in South Carolina. We’re tremendously grateful for The
Duke Endowment’s confidence in the Medical University.” Established in 1924 by N.C. industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke,
The Duke Endowment is one of the nation’s largest private foundations.
Its mission is to serve the people of North Carolina and South Carolina by supporting
selected program of higher education, health care, children’s welfare
and spiritual life. #####