UW System gets $1.37 million grant for health-care training

The University of Wisconsin System and partners around the state have been awarded a $1.37 million grant from the US Department of Labor to create health-care training projects to help resolve the nationwide shortage of nurses.

The State of Wisconsin Initiative to Fast-Track (SWIFT) Nurse Educators program, which started as a task force in 2003 under Governor Jim Doyle, is expected to reduce the training period for nurses by anywhere from 18 to 24 months. Officials say there are more than 3,000 names on Wisconsin nursing program wait lists.

UW System is the recipient of one of 12 grants totaling over $12 million, out of 230 funding applicants. The UW System partners are expected to match the grant.

This statewide consortium will help the program meet its goals of ensuring that 70 new nursing educators with master's degrees are available to teach by 2007. With the addition of these 70 professors, Wisconsin higher education systems will be able to admit at least 800 more nursing students per year.