NURSING DEGREES IN DEMAND; NEW CAMPUS EXPECTS TO SEE SURGE IN ENROLLMENT.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

With a critical nursing shortage looming countywide, California State University, Channel Islands expects a three-fold increase in the number of nursing-degree students in the current satellite program when the new campus opens in the fall.

As many as 30 registered nurses with community college degrees are expected to continue their education through the campus's bachelor's degree program - many while working full time as the county grapples with a shortage in the nursing profession.

``I'm seeing there is a demand for nurses,'' said Stephen Lefevre, director of California State University, Northridge's current Ventura satellite campus.

``There's a large senior population here in Ventura County that's increasing. That's going to be part of the equation.''

So too are the large numbers of nurses who are nearing retirement age with many younger ones, the majority female, leaving the profession to raise families or seek careers without the burnout caused by low pay, long hours and the feeling they are not appreciated, health experts say.

``Realistically, how effective is someone at their 17th or 18th hour of work or on their eighth straight day, as opposed to someone who is coming in fresh,'' said Carmen Trerotola, a CSUN nursing teacher and Ventura campus adviser. ``The nurses are working overtime. There is a high burnout (rate).''

She said, ``The patients who are admitted are much sicker than they used to be.''

Officials are also considering a master's degree program to be implemented when the university, to open on the former Camarillo State Hospital Campus, reaches its full capacity in coming years.

The Ventura campus began its baccalaureate nursing program, which is operated by CSUN, in the fall of 1996 and has accepted an average of 10 registered nurses a year since.

Students can complete the program in two years, if they take a summer session, but most students enroll in the three-year program, taking a full day of classes once a week so they can maintain their work schedules.

The bachelor's degree program will continue operating this fall, when officials are bracing for increased enrollment in a county where the area's nine hospitals report nursing staff shortages of 10 percent to 20 percent.

Earning a bachelor's degree translates into more money and a larger field of options in the profession, experts say. The degree is required for public health, most supervisory positions, as well as for clinical specialists.

``(The university) recognizes the future is at the baccalaureate level,'' Trerotola said. ``In order to be recognized as a profession, we need to have a common base of education. In order to have credibility, that needs to be at the baccalaureate level.''

While expanding the baccalaureate program at the new university will put more high-level nurses in the workplace, conditions must improve to keep them there, said Martina Melero, chief representative of the county chapter of the California Nurses Association, whose 150 members approved a 4 percent pay hike for the remainder of their contract, which expires Sept. 18, as part of a salary reopener clause.

The nurses had only received a 2 percent hike over the last seven years. Melero said Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura and St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard have offered 5 percent pay hikes to nurses who work or transfer to specialty areas.

Other hospitals countywide might follow suit, she said.

``I believe less people come into nursing because of the pay and working conditions,'' Melero said. ``We need to turn that around. As salaries increase, more and more qualified people will look toward nursing as a profession.''