In the summer of 2022, Kaweah Health met with Unitek and the Board of Registered Nurses, where they agreed to expand the pool of potential nurses by allowing Unitek to partner with Kaweah Health. The collaboration comes in the form of their nursing program. However, the program is only offered to Kaweah Health employees who have not yet achieved their nursing degrees, and 80 to 100 employees have already expressed interest in the program.
The program will not be free for students, as they will be responsible for a portion of the tuition. However, Kaweah Health is working on a subsidy program that will help pay for the program if the student works for Kaweah Health for three years after they graduate. If they do not meet the three-year obligation, they will have to repay the subsidy. Unitek has also reduced the amount for the program due to its partnership with Kaweah Health.
“One of the ways to increase educational capacity, you need two things, you need faculty and you need clinical experience. You need a clinical structure and rotations,” said Abdel Raheem Yosef, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Unitek Learning. “This partnership actually provides both, because nurses are working for a career. And senior nurses can participate in teaching and preparing their colleagues who will become nurses working for them.”
