University Health System (UHS), a hospital system in San Antonio, found that many of its environmental services employees, often underskilled and with limited English proficiency, struggled to cross over to the clinical career ladder.
by Site Staff
November 19, 2012
UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM
This left them stuck in low-paying jobs with little opportunity for advancement. With proper training, these employees could fill clinical jobs throughout the hospital system.
The Center for Learning Excellence at UHS, under the leadership of Senior Director Jacqueline Burandt, partnered with Alamo Colleges to launch a training program on site at University Hospital. The model combines bilingual technical training and occupation-specific vocational English as a second language classes, a move away from the traditional model which required that participants learn general ESL curriculum and then enter training only taught in English. Training takes place six hours a day, four times a week, which allows participants to complete it in weeks rather than months.
Twelve staff members took the first program three years ago, and all successfully completed the program, which involved CPR training and certification. Further, half of the participants earned certified nurse aide licenses after passing the Texas boards. One of these aides was promoted twice and is now a medical-surgical technician.