Nurse Support Grants Approved

Innovation is at the heart of three Maryland Higher Education Council Nurse Support Program II (NSP II) Competitive Grants recently approved for the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. The initiatives address a faculty leadership gap; a growing demand in psychiatric nursing; and online use of simulation to spur student and faculty development.

• The Establishing a Faculty Development Consortium for Nursing Leadership initiative will assemble a Leadership Academy that nurtures faculty selected by nursing partners at Coppin State, Stevenson, and Towson universities and the University of Maryland. Pamela R. Jeffries, PhD, RN, FAAN, will lead the initiative.

• There is a serious shortage of mental health care workers to serve vulnerable populations. Nurse practitioners of all specialties find themselves treating psychiatric conditions even though most have not received specific training. JHUSON will address these issues through an accelerated online post-NP Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program. Karan Kverno, PhD, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, is project leader for Easing the Transition to Higher Levels of Education to Address Critical Mental Health Needs: Accelerated Post-NP Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) Education.

• Online Use of Interprofessional Simulation for Nursing Student Instruction and Faculty Development is designed to provide nursing, medical, and pharmacy faculty with the tools to incorporate online interprofessional simulations into curricula. Faculty from a minimum of 13 Maryland schools of nursing will be chosen to participate, meaning the initiative should impact at least 455 nursing students in its initial round. Also, the JHU School of Medicine and the Notre Dame of Maryland University School of Pharmacy will incorporate the modules into courses that will reach medical and pharmacy students in addition to nursing students. Elizabeth Tanner, PhD, RN, leads this project.