Project Abstract – NEPQR-Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academies Program Region 8 - CFPA Montana State University, College of Nursing Sherrick Hall, Room 206, PO Box 173560 Bozeman, MT 59717-3560 PI: Molly Secor, PhD, RN, FSAHM, Associate Dean and Professor, Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing Email: molly.secorturner@montana.edu Phone: (406) 994-2681 Website: https://www.montana.edu/nursing/ Grant Funds Requested: $3,999,940 Funding Preference: Serving both rural and underserved populations in rural and MUA/MUP Department of Health and Human Services Region includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. These largely rural states make up 15.4% of the United States landmass and just 3.7% of its population. Health care access, and subsequently positive health outcomes for the population are challenged by health care workforce shortages and geography. Rural areas face greater difficulty in recruiting and retaining a skilled nursing workforce. Education and training programs need to train and develop clinical nursing faculty and preceptors to provide quality clinical experiences and to expand their ability to accept and graduate students, thus increase the nursing workforce. To accomplish in areas of limited clinical opportunities, programs need to partner and need to support the clinical faculty and preceptors. Region 8 CFPA will be led by Montana State University (MSU) Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing (MRJCON). The initiative will serve the six-state region with primary partners including the Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence (CNE) and schools of nursing from each of the six states. A regional committee of representatives from academia, health care employers, and underserved communities will provide project guidance. Partnership liaisons will be employed in each state. Goal: An increase in the skilled, qualified clinical nursing faculty and preceptors throughout the six states of Montana
, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. • Objective 1: Montana AHEC and the Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence will lead additional partners from all of the six participating states to recruit, train, and retain clinical nursing faculty and preceptors. Strategies include curriculum assessment and revision, development and implementation of recruitment plans, training and supporting over 900 clinical faculty and preceptors, and connecting training participants to employment. The proposed strategies reflect the overwhelming need to increase and support clinical faculty and preceptors as expressed by employers, schools of nursing, and current faculty and preceptors across the region. • Objective 2: Project leaders will develop and sustain a regional partnership to recruit and train clinical faculty and preceptors from a variety of care settings and from within rural, underserved, and urban communities, and evaluate program progress. Strategies include facilitating a regional network to implement the program across all six states, evaluating and continually improving program efficacy, and supporting partnership liaisons throughout the region. The proposed strategies will leverage successful programs, increase collaboration and reduce duplication of efforts across the region, and cooperatively implement quality improvement processes to identify local and regional best practices, and lead to sustainability of effort.