| HRSA Awards $12 Million Grant to Increase Diversity in Nursing Workforce |
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| Written by IV Post | |
| Thursday, 07 August 2008 | |
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Washington, DC - The Health Resources and Services Administration ( HRSA) announced $12 million in grants to 36 academic institutions and three hospital organizations to further the education and training of the nation’s nurses and nursing educators, and increase diversity in the nursing workforce. “Two of the programs we are announcing grants for today - the Nurse Education Practice and Retention Program and the Faculty Development: Integrated Technology into Nursing Education and Practice Initiative - support a variety of efforts at universities to improve the training of nurses,” HRSA Administrator Elizabeth Duke said. “The other grants, distributed through our Nursing Workforce Diversity program, seek to increase the number of nurses from disadvantaged backgrounds. Because those graduates often return to serve in their home communities, these grants help improve the distribution of patient care and reduce persistent health disparities.” * Twenty-eight new Nurse Education Practice and Retention Program grants worth $8.5 million were awarded to 25 academic institutions and three hospital organizations.
These grants support initiatives to address the nursing shortage by strengthening capacity for nurse education, practice and retention. The March 2004 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, supported by HRSA, and a September 2004 HRSA Bureau of Health Professions report on the projected supply and demand of the nursing workforce provide the basis for such targeted initiatives The program supported 21,145 participants in FY 2007.
* Two new grants totaling almost $600,000 for “Faculty Development: Integrated Technology into Nursing Education and Practice Initiative” went to Drexel University in Philadelphia for $299,834 and the University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., for $299,633.
These grant funds support nursing collaboratives – partnerships among collegiate schools of nursing, academic health centers, accredited public or private institutions and other organizations. Program efforts help nursing faculty integrate technologies related to simulated learning, informatics and telehealth into the nursing curriculum.
* Nine new Nursing Workforce Diversity Program awards totaling $2.8 million were made to seven universities and two community colleges. Among other things, funds help educate and support pre-nursing and nursing students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including racial and ethnic minorities underrepresented among registered nurses.
The Nursing Workforce Diversity grants help aspiring nurses develop the academic skills to fulfill pre-entry requirements for nursing school and meet academic rigors after they enroll. Through the program, nursing students may receive tutoring, mentoring, career and personal counseling to help them stay in nursing school. Since many of the students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, with household incomes that meet federal low-income standards, they are eligible for stipends and scholarships.
In addition, several grant projects have identified students at the middle school orhigh school level to take partin summer enrichment programs on nursing school campuses or participate in job-shadowing in a clinical nursing setting. During the school year, the program helps enrolled youngsters establish Future Nurses Clubs, attend career fairs and weekend “nursing academies,” or receive tutoring to pass exams for college entry.
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