VA Establishes Partnerships with Leading Nursing Schools

Have You Heard?

by Kevin Secor

VA is establishing new partnerships with seven of the country’s leading nursing schools. The partnerships bring to 10 the number of collaborations between the Department and nursing schools under the VA Nursing Academy. The VA Nursing Academy is a virtual organization with central administration in Washington.

It expands learning opportunities for nursing students at VA facilities, funds additional faculty positions so competitively selected nursing school partners will accept additional baccalaureate-level students, and increases recruitment and retention of VA nurses. The five-year, $40 million program began in 2007. Seven nursing schools will form new partnerships with nine VA medical centers and join the VA Nursing Academy this year. They are: Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, Loyola University of Chicago in Hines, Ill., The Michigan Consortia — University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit Saginaw Valley State, Battle Creek and Ann Arbor, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, Rhode Island College in Providence, and the University of South Florida in Tampa. VA expects to add several more nursing-school partnerships.

     The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has reported that in 2006 more than 38,000 qualified applicants were turned away from entry-level baccalaureate degree programs in nursing schools because of insufficient numbers of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space and clinical mentors. VA currently provides clinical education for approximately 100,000 health professional trainees annually, including students from more than 600 schools of nursing.