Texas Team Receives $300,000 for Nursing Education

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently announced Texas as one of nine states to receive a two-year, $300,000 grant through its new Academic Progression in Nursing program.

The program, run by the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) on behalf of the Tri-Council for Nursing, will advance state and regional strategies aimed at creating a more highly educated, diverse nursing workforce. The Tri-Council for Nursing is made up of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the National League for Nursing, American Nurses Association, and AONE.

AONE is leading the $4.3 million, Phase I two-year initiative. The foundation will support an additional two years of work at the close of Phase I to help states that have met or exceeded their benchmarks continue progress.

The Texas Team Advancing Health Through Nursing, co-led by Alexia Green, Ph.D., R.N., professor and dean emeritus at the School of Nursing, will work with academic institutions and employers on implementing sophisticated strategies to help nurses get higher degrees to improve patient care and help fill faculty and advanced practice nursing roles. In particular, the states will encourage strong partnerships between community colleges and universities to make it easier for nurses to transition to higher degrees.

“All communities need to take note of our country’s critical shortage of nurses and nurse educators and the need for nursing schools like the School of Nursing to produce more highly educated graduates,” Green said. “We look forward to working with the entire team to make this grant a success.”

The Institute of Medicine has recommended that 80 percent of the nursing workforce be prepared at the baccalaureate level or higher by the year 2020. Currently about half of U.S. nurses have baccalaureate or higher degrees. According to an Institute of Medicine report, a better-educated nursing workforce is needed to ensure that Americans have access to high quality, patient-centered care.

The School of Nursing recently launched The EDGE (Exploration, Discovery and Growth through Education), a new online program that makes it more convenient for registered nurses in Texas to receive a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

“One of the key requirements for the grant is to streamline the transition between an Associate Degree in Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Nursing education through approval of a statewide plan on prerequisites and eliminating duplication of curriculum,” said Melinda Mitchell Jones, MSN, J.D., R.N., associate professor and chair of the Department of Non-Traditional Undergraduate Studies in the School of Nursing.

The EDGE offers a full-time two-semester track, a two-year part-time track and an accelerated six-month track. Because the courses are completely online, students have 24-hour access to their classes, online technical support, assistance in developing their degree plans and learning support. There are no required clinical hours, but instead students will have interactive and observational field experiences in their communities.