Posted: 8/8/2007
The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) has been awarded a five-year $970,000 grant to increase the number of available nursing faculty in Maryland and to address the critical shortage of nurses. Funding for the proposal, “A Needs Based Graduate Education Partnership,” is provided by the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) and the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC).
Kathleen White, PhD, RN, CNAA, BC, associate professor and Interim Director of the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) program, and team members Mary Terhaar, DNSc, RN and Susan Immelt, PhD, RN sought the funding to develop and implement a JHUSON DNP program, beginning in the 2007-2008 academic year.
JHUSON will work with local hospitals to support qualified staff in applying, attending, and completing the final DNP project. Partners and collaborators in implementing the new DNP program include the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Howard County General Hospital, St. Agnes Hospital, Mercy Medical Center, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, and Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital.
After receiving their DNP, graduates from the collaborating hospitals will continue to work at their institutions, acting as advanced clinical resource support or providing clinical and administrative leadership to the organizations and their staff. The DNP program will qualify graduates to serve as clinical and classroom faculty for JHUSON and other Maryland schools of nursing. Their collaborating organizations will, in turn, provide expanded clinical placement sites for more nursing students.
“This innovative educational approach will increase the number of available clinical faculty, ultimately increasing the number of bedside nurses in Maryland,” says White. “Graduates of the new DNP program will be top-notch experts in their clinical fields, ready to share their knowledge with others to address the nations nursing shortage.”
The HSCRC has awarded nine institutions grants totaling $5.9 million over the next five years as part of the Nurse Support Program II, a program that creates partnerships between hospitals and colleges to address the critical shortage of nurses. This second round of grants, distributed to 25 institutions of higher education, health systems, and hospitals, is expected to increase undergraduate and graduate nursing enrollments by 1,500 students.