The Rush University College of Nursing is pleased to be among the first institutions in the nation to receive funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) through the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program. Grants provided through this competitive program will be used for scholarships to increase the number of students enrolled in the Rush University College of Nursing Advanced Generalist Master's program. This groundbreaking national scholarship program, launched by RWJF and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), aims to help alleviate the nation’s nursing shortage by dramatically expanding the pipeline of students in accelerated nursing programs.
Rush University College of Nursing received $200,000 that will support scholarships for 20 students from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds. So far, 10 awards have been made to students who will enter the program in January 2009.
“We are so pleased to have been awarded this grant because it will further our commitment to increasing our student body diversity. More important, because the Advanced Generalist Master’s program is focused on the preparation of clinician leaders at the point-of-care, the RWJ award provides us with the means to recruit and retain deserving students who may otherwise not be able to afford this type of educational program,” said Melanie Dreher, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean of the College of Nursing.
The Advanced Generalist Master's program is a new master’s degree program that prepares students for generalist practice, while also providing them with clinical leadership education that is not available in bachelor’s degree nursing programs. Rush implemented the program in response to the growing demand on nurses, who are taking on more responsibility for clinical management of patients, coordinating increasingly complex plans of care with other health professionals and assuming more accountability for improving the quality and safety of patient care.
Through the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program, scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each will be distributed to entry-level nursing students in accelerated programs during the 2008-2009 academic year. Award preference is given to students from groups underrepresented in nursing or from disadvantaged backgrounds. Grant funding also will be used by the school of nursing to help leverage new faculty resources and provide mentoring and leadership development resources to ensure successful program completion by scholarship recipients.
“This program aims to safeguard the health of the nation by helping to ease the nurse and nurse faculty shortage,” said RWJF President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA. “This new initiative also will advance our strategic goal of promoting leadership in the health professions.”
The RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program supports accelerated programs, which offer the most efficient route to licensure as a registered nurse for adults who have already completed a baccalaureate or graduate degree in a discipline other than nursing. Although enrollment in these programs has steadily increased over the past few years, many potential students are unable to enroll since already having a college degree disqualifies them for receiving most federal financial aid programs for entry-level students. The New Careers in Nursing scholarships address this problem, and will also address the overall nursing shortage, by enabling hundreds of students to launch their nursing careers through accelerated education.
By bringing more nurses into the profession at the baccalaureate and master’s degree levels, the new scholarship program also helps to address the nation’s nurse faculty shortage. Data from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration show that nurses entering the profession at the baccalaureate level are four times more likely than other nurses to pursue a graduate degree in nursing, which is the required credential to teach.
Additionally, the program targets the need to recruit students from groups underrepresented in nursing or disadvantaged backgrounds. According to the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, diversifying the nursing profession is essential to meeting the health care needs of the nation and reducing health disparities that exist among many underserved populations.
Anyone interested in learning about and applying to the Advanced Generalist Master’s program can obtain helpful information on the College’s Web site: http://www.rushu.rush.edu/nursing.
AACN serves as the National Program Office for this RWJF initiative and oversees the grant application submission and review processes. For more information about this program, see http://www.newcareersinnursing.org.
