UF nursing school receives more than $900,000 to expand doctoral education
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration Department of Health and Human Services has awarded more than $900,000 to the University of Florida College of Nursing to facilitate transition of its advanced practice nursing education program from the master's to the doctoral level. This strategic move will increase availability of primary health-care providers in underserved areas and help address the critical nursing faculty shortage.
The Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, or DNP, is a national initiative led by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and reflects a significant change in nursing education. Universities have traditionally offered master's degrees to prepare nurses for advanced practice.
"The DNP prepares advanced practice nurses with the knowledge, skills and abilities needed in today's and tomorrow's complex health-care environment, and provides advanced practice nurses with educational backgrounds comparable to health-care practitioners in other fields," said Susan Schaffer, Ph.D., A.R.N.P., a clinical associate professor and department chair who serves as the grant's program director.
The college admitted post-master's students to the DNP program in 2006 and will become one of the first schools in Florida and nationally to enable students with a bachelor's degree in nursing to earn their DNP degree.
The three-year grant will support nurses with bachelor of science or master's degrees in nursing for admission to UF to enter adult acute care, adult, family and pediatric DNP nurse practitioner specialty tracks. A major emphasis of the program will be the education of culturally diverse and culturally competent nurse practitioners who will help address the nation's shortage of primary care providers, especially in rural and urban medically underserved areas.
The need for primary care providers in Florida is severe. In 2008, 65 out of 67 counties were designated as primary health-care professional shortage areas.
"The College of Nursing has always been committed to providing clinical experiences for students in rural and urban underserved areas and this grant will allow us to further expand that reach," Schaffer said. "By exposing our students to more diverse clinical experiences, we will be encouraging them to continue work in these areas after they graduate."
From 2005 to 2007, between 27 percent and 49 percent of UF master's degree nursing students in their last semesters of study indicated they intended to work in medically underserved areas. In fall 2008, 63 percent of the college's post-master's DNP students reported that they intended to work with underserved clients after graduation.
The grant will allow the college to place greater emphasis on cultural diversity and competence throughout the DNP curriculum, increase clinical placement of students in public health units and in rural or urban underserved areas, and continue classroom discussion of ways in which nurse practitioners can address unmet health-care needs. Students also will explore employment opportunities in underserved areas.
The grant also will address the critical nursing faculty shortage that is restricting enrollment in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs nationwide. Faculty retirements expected in the next decade will further fuel the serious nursing faculty shortage. DNP graduates will be qualified for academic faculty positions and can serve as clinical preceptors for undergraduate and graduate nursing students.
"I am very appreciative of the hard work of our faculty in obtaining this grant and grateful to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration for recognizing the role that advanced practice nurses play in our health-care system and how the expansion of education for these nurses can improve care for patients," said Kathleen Ann Long, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., dean of the UF College of Nursing. "Nursing is a vital part of our growing and changing health-care system, and highly educated advanced practice nurses, at the doctoral level, will be prepared to improve practice, educate new clinicians and elevate our profession."