LaGuardia Helps Trained Health Professionals

“I didn’t know how to get recertified, I didn’t know which books
I needed to prepare for the nursing exam,” said Ms. Baten, who only
managed to work as a medical assistant.  “It was very frustrating.”

She then learned about the Welcome Back Center at LaGuardia Community
College, the only center in New York State that guides internationally
trained healthcare professionals through the state’s labyrinthine
licensing process and provides them with the technical and English
language skills they need to practice in New York.

So in the Fall of 2011 Ms. Baten enrolled in the free, eight-month
program where she improved her English, boosted her reading level,
reviewed the medical topics on the exam with nursing professors and was
guided through the re-credentialing process.  After completing the
program she passed her licensed practical nursing exam in June of 2012
and then went on to independently study for her RN licensing exam, which
she also passed four months later.

With her new credentials she was able to land a position as a
psychiatric nurse at Queens Hospital Center. “Without the Welcome Back
Center I would not have been able to pass the exam and get
recertified,” said Ms. Baten.  “I never had this type of help and
support in this country.”

“Many internationally trained healthcare professionals with
significant experience from their native countries are forced, because
of their limited knowledge of English and a lack of U.S. certification,
to drive taxis, wait tables or work at low-level healthcare jobs,”
said Mr. John Hunt, the center’s director.  “LaGuardia’s Welcome
Back Center leverages the training, experience and language skills of
these underemployed immigrant professionals and helps them to move from
low-skilled to high-demand jobs in healthcare.”

When they first enroll, the center’s clients who are in the workforce
make an average salary of $23,000 per year ($11.00 per hour). According
to the 2010 Bureau of Labor Statistics, licensed practical nurses in the
New York metropolitan region earn an average annual salary of $49,840,
while registered nurses average $80,070 per year, meaning that for most
clients, becoming re-licensed in the U.S. can represent a doubling or
tripling of income within two years.

Since the center opened in 2010, over 350 foreign-trained medical
professionals, mostly nurses, doctors and mental health professionals,
have taken advantage of the center’s services.  The majority of the
students come from Haiti, Ecuador, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and
India.

Funding for center has come from the New York State Department of
Education, the New York City Department of Small Business Services, The
City University of New York and LaGuardia.

Dr. Gail O. Mellow, president of LaGuardia Community College, sees the
Welcome Back Center playing a vital role when the Affordable Care Act is
fully implemented next year.  “As more Americans are entitled to
health care under the act, there will be an increased demand for trained
medical professionals,” said Dr. Mellow.  “The Welcome Back Center
will help to address that need by guiding internationally trained
healthcare professionals into the country’s medical field.”

The nurses who come to the center to improve their command of English
participate in an intensive eight-month training program based on the
award-winning I-BEST model, which pairs basic skills instruction with
technical instruction in integrated classes.  In this team-teaching
environment, nursing faculty cover the LPN curriculum—anatomy,
physiology, pharmacology as well as rule and regulations, and legal
aspects—while an ESL instructor, who is also present in the classroom,
works with the students on their language and study skills, vocabulary
and content-related material.  The ESL instructor also pre-teaches
vocabulary and introduces the students to topics they will be taught in
the technical class.

Judith Neree, a Haitian-trained nurse who was working as a certified
nurse aid (CNA) in a New Jersey nursing home for six years before
enrolling in the program in 2011, hailed the team-teaching approach.
“While the nursing professor covered all the medical surgical
techniques, the ESL instructor was there to review vocabulary and to ask
the professor to clarify a term or concept that the students may have a
problem understanding. The program was a life saver.”

“This approach is very different from the traditional method, which
has a student first learn English in a conventional ESL class where the
instruction is unrelated to healthcare, before applying to a training
program,” said Ms. Beth Godley, the education coordinator.  “The
center’s courses are contextualized toward their needs, which is a
strong motivator because students now have a real goal.”

Stats support that claim.  The program enjoys a 98% completion rate and
national studies have shown the I-BEST model to be effective at
achieving such results in other workforce development programs. Pass
rates on the NCLEX-PN certification exam for LaGuardia’s Welcome Back
Center students have also been impressive, averaging 80% compared to the
44% national rate.

While the students are going through their training, the educational
case manager is making sure their credentials are collected and sent to
New York State authorities for validation.

“The process is a complicated one because we have to make sure that
students fill out the credential verification applications correctly and
ensure that the documents coming from the students’ countries are
properly filled out and then directed to the correct parties in New
York,” said Tania Ramirez, the center’s educational case manager.
“The certification process can take a minimum of six months to
complete.  If there are errors on the part of the student or their
nursing school/ licensing authority it can take up to a year or
longer.”

After passing the LPN exam in June of 2012, Ms. Neree was promoted to
an LPN at the nursing home where she worked part time while pursuing her
RN training in a subsequent training course at LaGuardia.  “I cannot
believe I am working as a nurse,” said Ms. Neree.  “And the nursing
home will hire me as a RN when I get my certification.”

In addition to training nurses, the center also provides
recertification advisement to physicians. This year additional funding
allowed it to offer 18 doctors a three-month pilot I-BEST course that
helped them prepare for the oral part of the American licensing exam.
This section of the four-part United States Medical Licensing
Examination (USMLE) requires the candidate to engage in a simulation of
a doctor-patient exchange. Aided by a medical school graduate and an ESL
instructor who team-taught the course, the students learned how to model
the doctor-patient conversation, ask appropriate questions while
reviewing terminology.

Anndy Dalangin-Clemente, a Filipino physician who immigrated to the
U.S. in 2010, said that program bolstered her confidence.  “I
strengthened my English and increased my medical knowledge,” said Ms.
Dalangin-Clemente, who plans on taking the exam in a few months.  “It
gave me hope that I can pass and one day practice medicine.”

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LaGuardia Community College located in Long Island City, Queens, was
founded in 1971 as a bold experiment in opening the doors of higher
education to all, and we proudly carry forward that legacy today.
LaGuardia educates students through over 50 degree, certificate and
continuing education programs, providing an inspiring place for students
to achieve their dreams. Upon graduation, LaGuardia students’ lives
are transformed as family income increases 17%, and students transfer to
four-year colleges at three times the national average. Part of the City
University of New York (CUNY), LaGuardia is a nationally recognized
leader among community colleges for boundary-breaking success educating
underserved students. At LaGuardia we imagine new ideas, create new
curriculum and pioneer programs to make our community and our country
stronger. Visit www.laguardia.edu to learn more.