Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention - Transition to Practice Program - The Emory Transition-to-Practice Program (ETPP) will strengthen Georgia’s nursing workforce by preparing undergraduate nursing students for successful transition into professional nursing practice while expanding the supply of highly trained registered nurses prepared to provide high-quality primary care in rural and medically vulnerable communities. Consistent with the purpose of the HRSA NEPQR-TPP program, ETPP will implement an evidence-based educational pathway integrating competency-based instruction, simulation-enhanced learning, telehealth, mentoring, and community-based experiential learning. Georgia faces one of the nation’s most significant projected nursing shortages while demand for primary care and community-based services continues to grow. Healthcare delivery increasingly depends on nurses prepared to provide chronic disease management, prevention, care coordination, behavioral health integration, telehealth, and patient education in ambulatory and community settings. Although undergraduate nursing programs prepare students for licensure, many graduates have limited exposure to these expanding roles before entering practice. Over the four-year project period, ETPP will recruit and support four annual cohorts of undergraduate nursing students (40 trainees). Participants will complete a competency-based educational pathway that includes a Primary Care Nursing Elective, progressive simulation, telehealth training, faculty and peer mentoring, professional development, and more than 100 hours of HRSA-supported experiential learning beyond the standard BSN curriculum. Community-based clinical experiences will occur through partnerships with Mercy Care, Bethesda Community Clinic, Boat People SOS, and the Ellenton Migrant Farmworker Health Clinic, where students will care for individuals experiencing homelessness, uninsured adults, refugees, immigrants, migrant and seasonal agricultural workers, and other medically vulnerable populations. Students will also participate in an annual summer immersion through the Georgia Farmworker Health Program, completing supervised clinical and community outreach experiences in rural southwest Georgia. ETPP will further strengthen Georgia’s nursing workforce pipeline by recruiting five Pre-nursing interns annually through partnerships with the Technical College System of Georgia and healthcare employers. The internship creates a career pathway for licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, emergency medical technicians, medical assistants, community health workers, home health aides, and other frontline healthcare professionals interested in pursuing registered nursing careers. Scholarships, stipends, tutoring, mentoring, and academic support services will reduce barriers to participation and promote student success. Faculty and community preceptors will receive standardized training in competency-based education, simulation, telehealth, mentoring, learner assessment, and clinical teaching. Four simulation scenarios aligned with the INACSL Healthcare Simulation Standards will strengthen students’ clinical judgment, communication, teamwork, and primary care competencies before community-based practice. Project implementation will be guided by a comprehensive performance management and evaluation framework integrating HRSA performance reporting, the CDC Framework for Program Evaluation, and Plan-Do-Study-Act continuous quality improvement methods. Recruitment, retention, competency attainment, experiential learning, employment outcomes, and partnership performance will be monitored through quarterly performance dashboards and routine data review to support timely decision-making, accountability, and continuous program refinement. Findings will inform HRSA reporting, strengthen implementation throughout the project period, and support long-term sustainability and dissemination of an effective transition-to-practice model.
