Recognizing the shortage of qualified nurses in Israel, the Council of Higher Education approached the JCT to create a nursing school under the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and help improve Israel’s health care sector.
The program serves as a perfect fit to embody the ideals that the JCT represents. A degree in nursing offers not only a wide variety of career options, but it also integrates and complements religious values, allowing students multiple opportunities to perform acts of Chesed (loving kindness) for others.
JCT’s Nursing Program is designed to create the most knowledgeable, effective and compassionate nurses in Israel. Established only five years ago, the first two groups of graduates achieved the highest average score of any Israeli nursing school on the licensing exam, and every graduate received choice job offers from leading hospitals. Headed by Chaya Greenberger, Ph.D., who formerly was the Director of the Israeli Ministry of Health’s Nursing Division Accreditation and Licensing Department, the curriculum includes theoretical and practical studies in a variety of areas, including the latest developments in the healthcare sciences.
There are 260 students studying in the Machon Tal program, another 48 studying in JCT’s Bnei Brak branch for Haredi students and more than 60 women applied to start a program that will result in their being granted a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
The program prepares students for nursing careers as general practitioners. The curriculum is based upon basic life sciences, behavioral and social sciences, and clinical studies in internal, surgery, community, pediatrics, women’s health and mental health. There are courses in Jewish Medical ethics which parallel each clinical entity. The practical practice venues include hospital departments (such as intensive care, burn canters, pediatrics, emergency, oncology, and neonatology) mental health and rehabilitation facilities, community health clinics (including well-baby and care for the elderly) as well as corporate educational and home settings. Students rotate in hospitals and community sites all over the country.
Unique to the program, is the fact that the students spend a part of their day in Jewish studies courses, resulting in nurses who are not only technically proficient, but also filled with critical Jewish values and ideas. The school plays a major role in solving the ongoing shortage of qualified nurses in Israel mainly due to an increase in the number of seniors in Israel.
