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A stethoscope resides on a clipboard in a hospital. (Adobe Stock)<\/p>\n
As\u00a0the\u00a0state\u2019s\u00a0need for\u00a0health\u00a0care professionals\u00a0continues to grow, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University\u2019s Continuing Education Division has released several online programs to help close the\u00a0industry\u2019s\u00a0professional gap, including\u00a0training for\u00a0phlebotomy technicians, medical laboratory assistants,\u00a0and\u00a0surgical technologists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While\u00a0the\u00a0state\u2019s population has increased,\u00a0the number of trained professionals has not kept pace, hindering people from receiving proper health\u00a0care and widening the workload of current health\u00a0care professionals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr. Jennifer Snell\u00a0said there is a\u00a0need for health\u00a0care professionals in her\u00a0home\u00a0city\u00a0of\u00a0Jacksonville,\u00a0Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I certainly feel the effects of the shortages,\u201d\u00a0Snell\u00a0said. \u201cFor\u00a0Jacksonville\u00a0to have such a large black population, we do not have a single black dermatologist in the whole city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Snell said\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0happy to see FAMU is\u00a0training future professionals in a variety of areas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u00a0does\u2019nt\u00a0seem like we have enough people to meet the needs of so many people that need health\u00a0care, and everyone plays\u00a0an important role\u00a0in it,\u201d\u00a0Snell\u00a0said. \u201cAs a physician, I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0do what a surgical tech or a phlebotomist does; every person that makes up the health\u00a0care team is important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0The\u00a0program\u00a0coordinator for the Office of Continuing Education, Jacinda Turner, expounded\u00a0on how bridging the health\u00a0care gap was the intention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to go with a vendor that specifically focuses on health\u00a0care so that\u00a0our students\u00a0can get an even better quality of education and more opportunities to get\u00a0in\u00a0the healthcare industry,\u201d\u00a0Turner said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Turner\u00a0describes\u00a0how the new health\u00a0care programs can\u00a0benefit\u00a0traditional college students as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who are going into the pre-med, nursing field might even\u00a0benefit\u00a0from the courses that we offer as well,\u201d\u00a0Turner\u00a0said. \u201cIt gives an entry-level insight into the healthcare field, and it helps you\u00a0\u2026 work with patients, and the basic tasks of healthcare administration. It\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0cost as much as a traditional degree, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a short education, so you can jump into the career and get hands-on experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The new program has\u00a0students ecstatic about the opportunities it offers. Ariyana Golden, a third-year psychology major on a pre-med track, expresses her joy for the new program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI really love that,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing a doctor or a nurse isn\u2019t for everybody; it takes a lot of time, and for some people, it\u2019s not their passion, but they still want to be a part of the health field\u00a0\u2026 I also like that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0online; that way,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0more accessible for students.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Golden reveals that she would recommend the programs to a friend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had a friend in mind who wanted to do something that\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0a nurse or a doctor but was still in the health field, I think I would still recommend it to them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A stethoscope resides on a clipboard in a hospital. (Adobe Stock) As\u00a0the\u00a0state\u2019s\u00a0need for\u00a0health\u00a0care professionals\u00a0continues to grow, Florida Agricultural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-153524","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-tallahassee","9":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","10":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}