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UB on course to address nursing shortage
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“Being able to offer excellent academic programs, along with financial support to our students, allows the UB School of Nursing to lead change and impact health care delivery.”
The School of Nursing recently was awarded a $695,000 U.S. Health Resources and Service (HRSA) Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship (AENT) grant to increase the number of advanced-education nurses trained to practice as primary care providers and/or as nursing faculty members.
UB was among the universities that received the most AENT award money.
The nursing school also received accreditation for its Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree program from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
Officially recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as a national accreditation agency, the CCNE ensures the quality and integrity of baccalaureate, graduate and residency programs in nursing.
Marsha Lewis, dean of the School of Nursing, is delighted the DNP program has been accredited.
“Having accredited programs along with the AENT award money will allow us to be able to provide substantial funding for DNP students to meet their academic goals,” Lewis explains. “This aligns with the Institute of Medicines (IOM) Future of Nursing Initiative.”
“One of the key messages of the initiative is to provide and expand opportunities for nurses to achieve higher levels of education through an improved education system that promotes academic progression. Being able to offer excellent academic programs, along with financial support to our students, allows the UB School of Nursing to lead change and impact health care delivery.”
The HRSA grant, authored by Kathleen Lucke, clinical professor of nursing, is awarded for two years and must be spent in 2012 and 2013. It will be used to set up scholarships for qualified students, both current and incoming.
Qualified students will be those in the post-baccalaureate portion of the DNP program. The specific programs UB offers are the Adult Clinical Nurse Specialist, the Adult Nurse Practitioner and the Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.
Carol Brewer, professor of nursing and interim associate dean for academic affairs in the nursing school, attributed the HRSA award to an “excellent application and excellent nursing program.”
“This money will help educate doctorally prepared nurse practitioners who will provide advanced health care to the communities they serve,” she says.
“Some of these practitioners will also join the ranks of faculty, easing the bottle neck created by an inadequate number of nurse educators, which decreases the flow of nurses into the community.”
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