The School of Nursing receives two federal grants to support graduate school programs
By Ona Golonka
During a time when the shortage of primary care doctors has made the role of nurses more prominent, the University of Portland's School of Nursing has received two federal grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
These two grants, totaling more than $700,000, are designed to support the school's nursing graduate programs at the master's and doctorate levels and prepare future nurse practitioners and primary care clinicians.
The larger of the two grants, for $687,719, is entitled,"Educating Nurse Practitioners for the Demands of the Future."
The grant provides resources to continue the development of the Doctorate of Nursing Practice degree program.
According to Marie Napolitano, the project director for the three-year grant, UP's DNP Program is one means of increasing primary care clinicians in Oregon.
Resources will go to hiring new faculty and providing new technology.
"Our program has a special emphasis on caring for disadvantaged populations and has an integrative health component," said Joanne Warner, dean of the School of Nursing. "It sets our program apart from others."
Disadvantaged populations include the homeless, the marginalized and those with health disparities.
The UP program focuses on caring for these populations.
"The grant provides that opportunity not always found in other curriculums," said Marla Burrow, a student in the DNP program.
Burrow also works at Portland Providence, specifically at the essential health clinic for the uninsured.
"A lot of people want to take care of themselves, but lack access," Burrow said.
The DNP program helps meet society's needs for high-level knowledge workers.
It educates post-baccalaureate nurses and post-master's nurse practitioners as advanced primary care clinicians and leaders, said Warner.
Post-baccalaureate nurses will graduate as Family Nurse Practitioners, while post-Master's Nurse Practitioners will retain their specialization and graduate with a Doctorate of Nursing Practice.
"You have to have a desire to help and the ability to do it, but you also have to understand how to do it," Burrow said.
"This grant provides grads with ideas on how to service these populations," she said.
Romnee Auerbach, another student in the DNP program who also works at a mental health clinic in Salem, entered the program to further her professional goals and to help vulnerable people.
"I have a goal of one day to open a clinic for kids with mood disorders," Auerbach said. "The program has the info that I need."
The other aspect of the DNP program, the integrative health component, aims at combining conventional medicine with integrative or alternative medicine.
"Society needs health care workers that know that people are utilizing other options," Warner said.
"It's helping the students understand that there are different approaches to health," she said.
According to Warner, Portland is a perfect place to offer such a program, due to the resources that are available, such as acupuncture, massage therapy and herbal medicine.
"It's something we should look at more as a whole in nursing, as nurses already look at everything holistically," Auerbach said.
The integrative health component of the program proves to be unique and attractive to students.
"I have a friend who flies in from the East Coast specifically for this program," Burrow said. "People are choosing to come back to UP for their social policy and their integrated health component. These two components have become a huge influence on the practice."
The smaller of the two grants, for $23,268, is called the Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship grant.
It is geared toward advanced education nursing traineeships and provides scholarships and tuition assistance for graduate students.
Financial aid at the graduate level is difficult to come by.
"It's one of my favorite grants," said Stacey Boatright, grant director and program counselor for nursing graduate students.
"It's kind of rewarding to see how appreciative the students are. They're ecstatic. It's granting them something they didn't foresee," Boatright said.
The scholarship money coming from the grant is given in one semester rather than in increments.
In order to obtain a scholarship, a student has to fill out a form, have the intention to work in medically underserved areas and be a full-time student.
According to Boatright, the only thing preventing a student from obtaining the scholarship is not filling out the form.
The traineeship, funded by the grant, focuses on the importance of working in medically underserved, rural or public health facilities.
"It's such a service," Boatright said. "The students get master's work in an area that needs their help."
The two grants will benefit undergraduate students as well.
According to Warner, the best undergraduate programs have graduate programs.
"Undergraduate students can see, observe and be inspired by graduate students and can see the possibilities of graduate education," Warner said.
