January 31, 2011
Scholarships support online Guided Care Nursing course
Funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation has allowed the Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing to offer 270 scholarships for nurses to complete the online Guided Care Nursing course in 2011 and 2012. Registered nurses are eligible to apply if they are working for an organization in the United States that plans to use the Guided Care model in its patient-centered medical home or accountable care organization. Each scholarship covers the full tuition of the six-week course and the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s examination leading to the Certificate on Guided Care Nursing.
“Guided Care was developed to meet the growing challenge of caring for older adults with chronic conditions and complex health care needs,” said Jane Shivnan, executive director of the Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing. “These scholarships will help us train more Guided Care nurses to work with patients and their families to improve their quality of life and make more efficient use of health services.”
The Guided Care model was developed in 2002 by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers led by Chad Boult of the Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In 2009, funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation helped launch the online course, which became so popular that more courses were added throughout the year.
The evidence-based course gives nurses the knowledge and skills needed to assess patient needs, monitor chronic conditions, coordinate efforts of health care providers, smooth transitions between sites of care, and educate and empower patients and families to improve health and quality of life. Participants complete about 20 hours of core content and learning activities, including six live webinars, and have access to 20 hours of supplemental learning activities. Upon completion of the course, participants are eligible to take the online examination leading to the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Certificate in Guided Care Nursing.
For more about the Guided Care model, go to www.GuidedCare.org. For more about the online Guided Care Course and the scholarship application process, go to www.ijhn.jhmi.edu. The next online course begins March 7.