McAuley School of Nursing to teach at Veterans Affairs centers
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) tapped University of Detroit Mercy's McAuley School of Nursing as one of 10 nursing schools nationwide to partner in educating nurses in health care facilities established for veterans.
Under the VA Nursing Academy, a five-year pilot program aims to increase the number of nursing school students by increasing the number of faculty and clinical sites. Additionally, the VA hopes to retain more nurses as a large amount of its nursing staff nears retirement.
To earn the grant, leadership from the John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Detroit and the Aleda E. Lutz VAMC in Saginaw, UDM and Saginaw Valley State University formed a coordinating group called Michigan Teaming Tactically Educating Nurses (MITTEN) to develop a proposal for the VA.
The group identified an opportunity to address present and future needs of the VA and nursing in Michigan through a collaborative endeavor with nursing education. The VA Nursing Academy awarded MITTEN the grant in July.
"Gaining clinical sites for our nursing students to practice was very appealing for us. Interestingly, this fall, some of the 32 students placed at the Detroit and Saginaw VAMCs are veterans themselves," says Maureen Anthony, McAuley School of Nursing associate professor and lead faculty member for the program.
Marge Freundl of the VA Nursing Academy is one of two master's-prepared nurses serving as practitioners and clinical faculty to the students. She says the collaboration of bridging nursing education and nursing practice is one of mutual learning for UDM and the VA.
"The VA really enjoys the students being here," says Freundl. "During this first semester operating room nurses are dedicated to teaching students perioperative nursing in the operating room, a clinical site that has not been accessible beyond observation for most undergraduate students for several years."
VAMCs in Battle Creek and Ann Arbor will join the partnership in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In four years, the project is expected to increase the number of clinical faculty in Michigan by eight and increase the number of BSN-prepared nurses to approximately 40.
