A group of nurses will oversee student projects at the Medi-Cal Plan
CAMARILLO – Gold Coast Health Plan (GCHP) has announced its partnership with California State University, Channel Islands (CSUCI) to train nursing students.Starting in the spring semester, five nurses from GCHP’s Health Services Department will work with as many as seven nursing students from the school to introduce them to the world of Medi-Cal managed care.
“We are excited about exposing the next generation of health care providers to the importance of the work that we’re doing here,” said Dr. Nancy Wharfield, GCHP’s chief medical officer. “We hope that this will one day be a pipeline for people to come and work at Gold Coast Health Plan.”
Through their enrollment in CSUCI’s clinical leadership laboratory, the nursing students will work with GCHP’s preceptors on projects that fall into the areas of care management, utilization management, clinical information technology, health education, population health, and quality improvement. They will be onsite at the Plan’s Camarillo office one day per week for 14 weeks.
The objective of the course is to focus on the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to be a leader in nursing and to develop the ability to function as a contributing member of an inter-professional team.
“These partnerships allow the students to get practical experience and leadership skills so that when they get a job, they hit the ground running,” said Lynette Landry, chair of CSUCI’s nursing and health science programs. “Working in a managed care setting will give them a different perspective. They’re going to learn more about the health care system and how it operates and understand their role within it.”
The agreement between GCHP and the university is for three years.