Computers, telephones, e-mail and the Internet cut the distance between students and teachers. Training students and practicing nurses away from rural locales would defeat the purpose of the program, Rice explained. If they leave, uprooting their families and quitting jobs, odds are they won't go back. The clinical setting could be a rural hospital, urgent care center or even a client's home. To get a license in this state, students need national board certification, which requires a minimum of 500 hours of direct supervision.
Students complete their training in about two years.
When the three-year grant concludes, Rice plans to find funding to continue the program. In addition to Klickitat County, hospitals and counseling centers in Franklin, Stevens and Yakima counties have expressed interest in the MIRA program. In high school, he shadowed a local doctor, who highlighted the need for medical professionals in rural areas. We would drive enormous distances so he could do surgeries on people in these small towns. Growing up on the farm, I watched a number of people die because they couldn't get to health care fast enough.