Health Care

We place considerable trust in the people who care for our physical health. We trust they will be competent and compassionate caregivers, men and women who see us when we are most vulnerable and lend us their strength, who see us crying and try to make us smile. We trust they can combine intellectual capability with empathy, and decisiveness in a crisis with a willingness to sit and talk if we need to be comforted.

Imagine yourself inspiring that kind of trust. Chemeketa can take you there.

All across the nation right now, a shortage of health care workers is causing a crisis in hospitals and other health care facilities and demand is high for qualified men and women. Chemeketa offers the training you need to enter this rewarding career field.

Nursing

Associate degree/certificate/transfer

Chemeketa's one-year Nursing program qualifies you to take the Oregon State Board of Nursing exam to become a licensed practical nurse (LPN). As an LPN, you will care for patients under the direction of registered nurses, doctors and dentists.

Chemeketa's two-year, associate's degree program qualifies you to take the Oregon State Board of Nursing exam to become a registered nurse (RN). An RN assesses, plans, delegates, teaches and supervises patient care.

Following completion of the program, nursing students must take the National Council Licensing Examination (NCLEX) for either practical nursing or registered nursing. Chemeketa students consistently exceed the state and national pass rates on these exams, and for 10 years in a row had a 100 percent pass rate on the exam for licensed practical nurses and a 97.6 percent pass rate for students taking the registered nurse exam.

Oregon Health Sciences University offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and graduates of Chemeketa's Nursing program have a provisional admission to OHSU School of Nursing through an articulation agreement, which allows easier transfer of credits. Students are formally admitted after they get their associate's degree with a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher, pass the NCLEX-RN exam and are RN's in Oregon.

Pharmacy Technician/Pharmacology

Associate degree/certificate

The Pharmacy Technician/Pharmacology program prepares students for pharmacy technician positions in community, clinic, and hospital pharmacies. Pharmacy technicians assist licensed pharmacists to pre-pare medications. The program offers a one-year Pharmacy Technician Certificate with the option of continuing and completing a two-year Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Pharmacology.

Courses focus on the abilities needed to assist the pharmacist in col-lecting, organizing, and evaluating information for direct patient care. Content includes drug classification, pharmacokinetics and pharmaco-dynamics of prescription medications as well as an introduction to non-prescription drugs; pathophysiology regarding diseases; pharmaceutical inventory control; laws and ethics that apply to pharmacy operations; introduction to specialty pharmacies; in-depth concepts of sterility and quality assurance processes; and multicultural aspects of healthcare. In addition, students will develop communication skills and essential mathematical concepts related to medication dosing. Students will also participate in workplace experiences.

The intent of the program is to prepare students to take the national certification examination to become Certified Pharmacy Technicians and be employed in a pharmacy setting.

Short-term programs

Chemeketa also offers two 11-week training sessions for Basic Nursing Assistant and Medication Aide.

Dental Assisting

Certificate/transfer

Dental assistants help prepare patients for treatment, mixing dental materials, taking impressions, exposing and developing radiographs, and assisting with clinical procedures. As an office manager, a dental assistant may also serve as a receptionist, schedule appointments, keep accounts and records, and prepare statements and insurance billings. Chemeketa's Dental Assisting program, which is accredited by the American Dental Association, gives you hands-on training in all these areas. Most students take one year to complete this program.

Chemeketa can also prepare you to transfer into the Dental Hygiene program at Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT). If you are interested in a bachelor's degree, you should discuss your plans with an advisor at the school you plan to attend, as well as an advisor at Chemeketa.

Health Services Management

Associate degree

Health Services Management offers a two-year program leading to a variety of positions in hospitals, state agencies, medical clinics, HMOs or other health organizations. Positions include administrative assistant, data manager, and careers in middle-management. This program also leads into four-year transfer programs in medical office and other health care administrative areas.

Health Information Technology

Certificate/Medical Coding, Insurance, Medical Records, Medical Reception

The Health Information Technology program prepares you for a wide range of positions in hospitals, medical offices, insurance companies, HMOs and other health care facilities. Duties may include medical coding, insurance billing, medical records, health information processing, referral clerk and medical reception.

Medical Transcription

Associate degree

The two-year Medical Transcription program prepares you for an entry-level career, transcribing medical records at medical clinics, hospitals and other care facilities. Training stresses microcomputer word processing skills, as well as proofreading, transcription and formatting.

Emergency Medical Service

For more information about Chemeketa's Emergency Medical Technicial program, see the page on Public Safety.

Pre-Professional Studies

Oregon Health Sciences University offers a D.M.D. degree in Dentistry and an M.D. in Medicine. Because admission to these professional schools is highly competitive, you should plan to transfer to a four-year institution after completing your first year at Chemeketa. You should plan to take the most rigorous chemistry sequence for which you are qualified, as well as courses in basic science an general education. If you are interested in starting your pre-professional education at Chemeketa, be sure to discuss your plans with an advisor here, as well as an advisor at the four-year institution.

Getting Started

If you haven' t been to Chemeketa recently, your first step should be a visit to the college. While there you can talk to an advisor and learn what the college can do to help you reach your goal. You can arrange a time to take the college's free placement tests, which will help determine whether or not you need to take some basic skills classes in mathematics, reading or writing before enrolling in the program.

Through Chemeketa's Credit for Prior Learning program, you may be able to earn credit for learning acquired through job, community or volunteer service, non-credit classes or individual study.

Certain high school classes may be applied toward an associate degree, so talk to a career and college counselor at your high school about earning college credits while still in high school.

You may want to call one of the numbers below:

Nursing — 503.399.5058
Pharmacy Technician/Pharmacology — 503.399.5120 or 503.399.5058
Dental Assisting — 503.399.5265
Health Services Management — 503.399.8343
Medical Office Transcription — 503.399.5275
Health Information Technology — 503.399.5275

Updated October 2006 by the College Advancement Department.