$1.3 Million Federal Grant Supports Nursing Education & Clinical Training

LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing has been awarded a grant for $1,384,070 over two years by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to prepare primary care advanced practice registered nursing students to practice in rural and underserved settings. The grant is from the HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce’s Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) Program.

The funding will enhance the clinical training of LSU Health New Orleans Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner and Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner students and will also provide eligible students with direct aid to assist with tuition, books, fees, and general living expenses. Eligible students include those students enrolled full time at LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing in one of the two programs. Twenty-five students will be receiving traineeship awards ranging from $1,500 to $8,000 for the academic year.

The ANEW Program also supports innovative academic-practice partnerships to expand and diversify clinical experiences for primary care advanced practice registered nursing students. LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing will partner with University Medical Center New Orleans Ambulatory Clinics, which will provide clinical experiences ranging from three to six months for students in their second and third years. UMC New Orleans offers exposure to vulnerable populations in an HRSA-designated Medically Underserved Area of our state.

LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing will also develop a practice partnership with LSU Health New Orleans School of Allied Health Professions that will provide interprofessional training in two areas – Communication Disorders including Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, as well as Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy in the Occupational Health Stroke Clinic. Communication Disorders clinical training will focus on techniques to communicate with patients who use assistive devices. This is a needed skill in the primary care clinic as students will encounter patients with a variety of conditions and disabilities. Training in this area will also allow students to collaborate in the development of an assessment tool to obtain a detailed history that will assist in planning individualized, culturally sensitive treatment and management plans for patients.

The Occupational Health Stroke Clinic will allow nursing students to participate in tertiary health promotion strategies, treatment and management. They will collaborate to provide care for common chronic disorders prevalent in the stroke population and form team partnerships that will allow for true interprofessional practice. LSU Health New Orleans Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Primary Care Nurse practitioner students will participate and collaborate to develop an interdisciplinary plan of care for the stroke patient.

“The partnerships will foster a collaborative approach to teaching, learning and the provision of patient-centered care,” notes Project Director and Principle Investigator Latanja Divens, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, LSU Health New Orleans Instructor of Nursing in the Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner Program.