This award is to Texas Tech University Health Science Center to support the activity described below for 24 months. The proposal was submitted in response to the Partnerships for Innovation Program Solicitation (NSF-04556).
Partners The partners include Texas Tech University HSC (Lead Institution), Austin Community College, City of Lubbock, Texas, University Medical Center County Hospital, WorkSource of the South Plains, WorkSource One-Stop Centers, Greater Austin@Work, Capital Area Workforce Development Board, Rural Capital Area Workforce Development Board, American State Bank, Covenant Health System, HealthStream, Lubbock Heart Hospital, Seton Healthcare Network, St. David's Healthcare Partnership, Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, Lubbock Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Lubbock African American Chamber of Commerce, TTU College of Education
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Austin Community College are initiating an Alliance for Innovation in Nursing Education, a strategic partnership effort to improve the response to the national shortage of nurses. The Alliance is specifically designed to build collaborations among educational institutions, employers and the public workforce system, focusing on Central and West Texas. The purpose of the Alliance is to support models (prototypes) that operationally demonstrate how innovation in nursing education can more efficiently and effectively meet the needs of our health care system, while effectively assisting individuals to enter the nursing profession and migrate up a career ladder.
Potential Economic Impact The proposed innovations will expand the local nursing workforce system's capacity to be market-driven, responsive to local economic needs, and a contributor to the health and economic well being of the West and Central Texas communities.
The intellectual merit of the project follows. The proposed activity is very important and the methodology for enhancing numbers of nursing students using web-based, accelerated didactic tools. This proposal has two interdependent goals: increase the nursing workforce in rural Texas and, in so doing, increase minority participation and diversity to reflect shifts in population demographics. The proposed activity will enable individuals who already possess a B.S. degree (in any field and with a GPA > 3.0 with specific emphasis on science GPA > 3.0), who have completed a course in pathophysiology, and who are certified as a nursing assistant to participate in a web-based, accelerated (12-month) baccalaureate nursing program. This proposed project is grounded in good educational principles and offers a reasonable alternative for busy working adults in fields other than nursing.
The broader impacts of the activity follow. The proposal comes at a time when there is a real shortage of nursing students and nursing educators. The Alliance partnership will expand the local nursing workforce system's capacity to be market-driven, responsive to local economic needs, and a contributor to the health and economic well being of the West and Central Texas communities. The proposed effort will increase minority participation and diversity to reflect shifts in population demographics in the region. The opportunities for dislocated workers and/or underrepresented groups, particularly Hispanics, will be enormous. If successful, this activity can be emulated in other sparsely populated regions of the country.
