NLN Shares in HRSA Grant to Create Scholars Project Set to Transform Nursing Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 12, 2007 — New York, NY — Three institutions of higher education and the National League for Nursing will share a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administrations Division of Nursing. The $1,500,000 grant, to be administered by the School of Nursing at the University of Kansas in Kansas City, will be used to fund a five-year Health Information Technologies Scholars Project (HITS) that, it is anticipated, will transform nursing education for the 21st century and drive improvements in health care delivery through the integration of technology into academic and clinical practice. The other participating schools are the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Nursing in Denver, and Indiana University School of Nursing in Indianapolis.

The scholars project, a collaborative faculty development initiative to produce a cadre of faculty scholars with the knowledge and skills in applied informatics and technology-supported education, will better prepare nurses for clinical practice by helping them develop the competencies required in an information, technology-driven complex health care system. One role of the NLN will be to disseminate project processes, products, and outcomes so that the learning models are sustainable and replicable in other academic settings. Once scholars complete the HITS program, they will take a leadership role for integration of technology at their respective institutions and beyond through a mentoring network that is another aspect of the project.

To launch the project, the NLN will issue an initial call for scholars on September 19. Those selected will participate in immersion workshops on one of the three campuses, as well as in online assessment and learning modules. Project methodologies call for merging informatics with simulated case studies and human patient simulators to create powerful, innovative learning environments that will enable scholars to incorporate real-world applications into the academic setting.

Other aspects of the project include individualized faculty mentoring, school-specific projects, a goal attainment evaluation process, project dissemination mechanisms and outcome evaluation. The standardized learning modules will become a shared resource for all to use, and the proposed project requirements for the scholars program will assure that technology may be integrated into a wide range of curricula.

"The ultimate goal of this project is to improve the future workforce by providing them with the knowledge, skills, competencies and attitude to offer safe, quality, and efficient health care through the use of technologies," observed NLN CEO Dr. Beverly Malone.

Noted Dr. Mary Anne Rizzolo, the NLNs senior director of professional development who is a member of the projects Core Management Team, responsible for planning and implementation, the NLN will create a private e-Community to be used as a central data base for documents related to the project and to facilitate communication among the participating faculty and administrations at the three schools of nursing. Furthermore, the NLN will provide the technology platform (Living Books), which will be used in the early stages of the project to educate the scholars about informatics, simulation, tele-health, and web-based teaching.

Editors and reporters: For interview opportunities, please contact NLN chief communications officer, Karen R. Klestzick at 212-812-0376, kklestzick@nln.org.

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Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education offering faculty development, networking opportunities, testing and assessment, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its 23,000 individual and 1,100 institutional members.