Nurse, Education, Practice, Quality and Retention - Registered Nurses in Primary Care

This application addresses the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for HRSA-18-012 Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR)-Registered Nurses in Primary Care (RNPC) Training Program. The purpose of this four-year training grant is to recruit and train undergraduate nursing students and current registered nurses (RNs) to practice to the full extent of their license in community based primary care teams. The aim of the program is to increase access to care and address the health care needs of patients in rural and underserved communities with an emphasis on chronic disease prevention and control, including mental health and substance use conditions. The University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health will serve as a collaborator. Academic-practice partnerships will be established with the Center of Excellence in Rural Health, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics and Community Health Centers to assist in training the undergraduate nursing honors students and current RNs. A full-time partnership liaison will be hired as a formal facilitator between academia and the clinical partners. Five objectives will be addressed by this project to match the goals and intent of the NEPQR-RNPC. The first objective is to create a new primary care enrichment program for BSN students within the existing University of Kentucky College of Nursing enrichment programs. Undergraduate nursing students will be selected for the primary care enrichment program based on criteria established by the faculty in the University of Kentucky College of Nursing. The outcome for the first objective is that ten undergraduate students per year will be selected to participate in the enrichment program for a total of 40 students during the project period. The second objective of the project is to educate undergraduate nursing students in the primary care enrichment program to assume leadership roles and practice roles in primary care to enhance rural health primary care teams’ management of populations with chronic health problems and improve population outcomes in primary care settings. The outcome of the second objective is to develop an enrichment program curriculum in primary care that will include content on leadership skills, primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies, public health primary care competencies, the Chronic Care Model, mental health and substance abuse issues. In addition, each student will do a clinical rotation in a federally qualified health center (FQHC), rural health clinic (RHC) or community health center for at least 150 hours. The third objective is to enhance BSN students’ clinical skills in primary care through a 220 hour primary care clinical rotation. Each student will complete a clinical rotation in a federally qualified health center (FQHC), rural health clinic (RHC) or community health center for at least 220 hours. The fourth objective is to enhance the knowledge and skills of practicing registered nurses, clinical preceptors and faculty to address current health care needs of their patient populations in primary care settings. The outcome of this objective will be to develop a series of continuing education programs to be offered for RNs, clinical preceptors and faculty employed by the academic-practice partners as well as RNs across the state of Kentucky to enhance practicing RNs leadership skills and knowledge of health promotion, primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies, chronic health problems in primary care, MI and SBIRT. The fifth objective is to improve the screening and management of patients with chronic health problems including mental health and substance use conditions with an emphasis on the integration of primary care and public health priorities/competencies. The outcome of this objective will be to train undergraduate nursing students in the primary care enrichment program and well as practicing RNs in chronic disease prevention and management, motivational interviewing (MI) and Screening Brief Intervention and Referral for Treatment (SBIRT) for substance abuse.