A $1.5 million federal grant awarded to the Xavier University School of Nursing will go toward a high-tech solution the school’s developed to help combat the national nursing shortage.
The three-year grant will help fund an ongoing project that links Xavier’s campus, in the heart of urban Cincinnati, to rural sites in Ohio where nurses can take master’s level nursing classes via real- time, HD video conferencing.
“Eventually, seven rural Ohio healthcare organizations and their surrounding areas can be a part of the Xavier campus through video-conferencing,” says Susan Schmidt, director of Xavier’s School of Nursing. “Real face time with faculty is the advantage of teaching with this state-of-the-art technology. The wonderful goal of being able to reach out to rural Ohio and offer advanced nursing education to RNs and continuing education to all staff levels can be realized with this grant.”
Starting in the fall of 2009, at least 20 rural students will be admitted to the program each year. They’ll earn a Master of Science in Nursing, and get training in the emerging care role of Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing developed CNL in 2004 to “improve the quality of patient care and better prepare nurses to thrive in a complex health care system,” according to Xavier. Xavier was one of the first schools in the state of offer a CNL program, and the only one offered to rural RNs.
This project is in its second year.
“For the first year of the program, three rural Ohio health care organizations have partnered with Xavier: Brown County Regional Hospital, Fairfield Medical Center, and Wesleyan Senior Living Center in northern Ohio,” says Distance Learning Coordinator Debbie Davis. “Additional rural partners, including skilled nursing facilities, will be recruited for the second and third years of the project.”
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration awarded the grant through its Nurse, Education, Practice and Retention Program. Right now, estimates from the American Health Care Association and the American Hospital Association estimate a shortage of 135,000 nurses nationwide, a vacancy rate of 8.1 percent. The rate is expected to grow as Baby Boomer age.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Laurel Bauer, Media Relations Coordinator, Xavier University and Dr. Susan Schmidt, Director Xavier School of Nursing
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