A Wednesday vote by UF's Board of Trustees increased the likelihood that UF nursing students will have new places to train.
The board voted unanimously to help complete the corporate restructuring of Shands Healthcare to make it easier for medical facilities to become partners with the not-for-profit company and opening up new training grounds for students.
The bulk of the restructuring was approved by Shands' board of directors late last year, but UF's trustees amended the corporate rules of Shands at UF to make them compatible with the new configuration, which established a parent company to oversee all of the hospital's subsidiary units, like Shands Jacksonville.
Tim Goldfarb, Shands Healthcare CEO, said after the meeting that all major universities with hospitals have already done so.
Goldfarb said the new setup will let future partners have more autonomy, but will not change basic operations.
"It's paperwork, it's legal documentation, it makes no difference in how we do day-to-day business," he said.
