Nursing School Receives $1 Million to Increase Advanced Practice RNs

Photo by Russell Cothren

Anna Jarrett

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Eleanor Mann School of Nursing has received a federal grant of $1 million to increase the number of advanced practice registered nurses. The program is aimed at helping meet the health and wellness needs of Arkansas’ medically underserved populations.

The grant of $1,081,735 from the Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be paid over three years. Anna Jarrett, assistant professor of nursing, is the principal investigator and will oversee the grant project.

“The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing is playing a critically important role in helping to make sure all Arkansans receive high-quality health care,” said Tom Smith, dean of the College of Education and Health Professions. “I congratulate the nursing faculty for taking the initiative to secure this funding to provide more highly educated nurses in our state.”

Pegge Bell, professor of nursing, said the grant enables the nursing school to prepare preceptors who will support the clinical education of Doctor of Nursing Practice students.

“By supporting the preceptors in a number of ways including using technology, our students will have a more meaningful clinical experience,” said Bell, who recently retired as director of the nursing school. “We will be creating a network of preceptors while improving the clinical experiences of our students.”

Preceptors supervise clinical hours of graduate students and ensure that students complete work satisfactorily at the clinical site. The nursing school approves the selection of preceptors to participate in the academic programs.

Jarrett said mutually beneficial clinical partnerships formed as part of the project will implement an innovative, collaborative plan to enhance the educational experience of both clinical preceptors and D.N.P. students. 

“By enhancing existing clinical partnerships and creating new ones, we can place nursing students who are preparing for advanced practice roles as nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists at clinical sites in medically underserved, rural and minority communities,” Jarrett said. “This will be accomplished with a collaborative effort between the nursing school and community clinics, with expansion throughout the state.”

The program will use a co­preceptor clinical model, which links faculty teaching practicum courses and preceptors in clinical sites, to ensure students will have knowledge and skills to provide safe, quality care within the complex practice-based environment. The project is expected to establish partnerships at seven practice sites and prepare 30 practice-ready, culturally fluent D.N.P. graduates who will seek employment in medically underserved, minority, and rural communities. The project will also evaluate the interprofessional co-preceptor model.

Jarrett said the successful grant proposal was a group effort by nursing faculty of the graduate programs. Faculty who participated with Bell and Jarrett were Kathleen Barta, Audrey Weymiller, Deborah Shirey and Tracie Kirkland.

The Global Campus collaborates with the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing to develop and deliver online nursing courses. Find out more about the university’s online programs.

About the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing: The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing offers a Doctor of Nursing Practice online, a Master of Science in Nursing online and an R.N. to B.S.N. degree-completion program online as well as an on-campus Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The nursing school is located in the Epley Center for Health Professions, a facility that opened in 2012 with five high-fidelity simulation labs in which mannequins simulate patient conditions and offer scenarios for nursing students to address.

About the Global Campus: The Global Campus supports U of A colleges and schools in the development and delivery of online programs and courses. It provides instructional design services, technology services and assistance with marketing, recruiting and strategic academic development.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.