Nurse practitioner students from diverse backgrounds committed to practicing primary care in historically underserved communities after graduation will receive financial support through a newly funded grant.
Ben Remor Inventor, PhD, CNP, director of the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner program, received funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration to provide traineeship stipends to primary care nurse practitioner students, especially students from under-represented communities in nursing.
The project, called Moving into Social Justice Spaces: Innovations in NP Clinical Training, will provide stipends to students in the pediatric nurse practitioner, psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, adult gerontology primary care nurse practitioner and family nurse practitioner programs.
A primary objective of the grant is to provide financial support to students in these programs from historically underrepresented backgrounds in nursing. As defined by HRSA, this includes men, students from racial and ethnic minority groups, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, veterans, and students from rurally designated high schools.
Students who receive these stipends will commit to practicing in underserved communities upon graduation, especially focused on the integration of primary care.
Additionally, the grant builds upon existing College of Nursing partnerships with two federally qualified health centers, Tapestry 360 Health and Heartland Health Alliance, and at Saint Leonard’s Ministries College of Nursing-led faculty practice clinic within a social services agency.
The HRSA funded this project through its Advanced Nursing Education Workforce mechanism that “aims to increase the number of primary care nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and certified nurse midwives trained and prepared to provide primary care services, mental health services, and substance use disorder care, and/or maternal health care.”
“This funding will have a lasting impact on trainees, especially those who are interested in working with historically underserved populations,” says Inventor. “Additionally, the expansion of these partnerships will help advance our mission of educating the next generation of NP leaders to address health equity and social determinants of health in their practice with real-world clinical experiences during training.”
Inventor’s project builds upon an existing HRSA grant RUSH College of Nursing received in 2019. Kathryn Swartwout, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, received an ANEW grant entitled RUSH Primary Care Nursing: Innovations in Caring for Vulnerable Populations. Swartwout’s grant aimed to develop telehealth competencies for faculty, students, and preceptors.
RUSH previously developed successful academic partnership structures with Tapestry 360 Health, Heartland Health Alliance, and Saint Leonard’s Ministries that included NP student placements and a program of clinical training to reduce site demands with funding from Swartwout’s project.
Inventor's project will enhance these partnerships with an additional focus on integrated behavioral care, especially for underserved populations.
“Dr. Inventor’s grant is an exciting step forward and will allow RUSH to continue providing innovative and important clinical experiences to our NP students,” says Christine Kennedy, PhD, RN, FAAN, John L. and Helen Kellogg Dean of RUSH College of Nursing and interim provost of RUSH University.
Inventor’s grant will also support faculty and staff administering the grant.
The grant period officially began on July 1 and will run until June 30, 2027.
