August 3, 2009

Johns Hopkins School of Nursing receives four-year grant to train faculty for Md. schools

The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing has received a $1.6 million Nurse Support Program II grant to increase the number of master’s-prepared nurses qualified to fill faculty vacancies in Maryland schools of nursing.

According to a report by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, nursing schools in the United States turned away nearly 50,000 qualified applicants in 2008, due in part to an insufficient number of faculty.

The grant proposal, submitted by Kathleen White, Anne Belcher, Sharon Olsen and Pam Jeffries, outlines a plan to offer the Health Systems Management and Clinical Nurse Specialist tracks of the master’s program using online and distance learning technology. By affording more students the opportunity to pursue graduate degrees in a flexible and convenient manner, they said, the likelihood of preparing nurses qualified to fill faculty vacancies will increase.

Previous partners in the first NSP II grant submitted by the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing—The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Mercy Health Services, St. Agnes Health Care, Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Howard County General Hospital—wrote letters of support for this proposal.

The grant is funded by the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission and the Maryland Higher Education Commission.