Newswise — Bethesda, MD – As part of the national effort to address the shortage of nursing faculty and the number of advanced practice nurses providing direct patient care, the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare has awarded a $70,000 grant to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences to advance the scholarly work of five individual research doctoral students and two scholar teams of ten Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students at the university’s Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing.
The seven USU scholarships are among the 300 bestowed to future nurse educators and leaders at 110 schools this year by the Jonas Center. USU’s awards are part of the Center’s Jonas Veterans Healthcare Program which supports nurses pursuing PhDs and DNPs, the terminal degrees in the nursing field.
In 2011, the Institute of Medicine issued its “Future of Nursing Report” that recommended doubling “the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020 to add to the cadre of nurse faculty and researchers.” The American Association of Colleges of Nursing also issued a report showing that 2013 saw the lowest enrollment increase in professional registered nurse programs in the past five years, attributed primarily to a shortage of qualified faculty.
“The call for more nurses – and thus the faculty to prepare them – is massive. Healthcare in America has never been more complex, yet tens of thousands of would-be nurses are turned away from the profession each year,” said Donald Jonas, co-founder of the Jonas Center. “We’ve stepped up the pace and expanded our programs to meet this need.”
“We are excited that this grant will allow our school to enhance the research and scholarly inquiry of uniformed nurse officers who will serve as future military health leaders, educators and advanced practice clinicians,” said Dr. Carol Romano, associate dean for academic affairs in the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing.
Students who will benefit from the Jonas Center grant to USU include: PhD students Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Danchanko, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Lalon Kasuke, Air Force Maj. Jacqueline Killian, Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Litchfield, and Air Force Maj. Laurie Migliore; Army DNP students on Scholar Team 1 based at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., including Maj. Audry Torres, Maj. Imshin Kim, Capt. Jeremy Mahoney, Capt. Elizabeth Poindexter, Capt. Jeffery Quan, and Capt. Jeffrey Negard; and Air Force students on Scholar Team 2 based at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, including Capt. Michael Allen, Capt. Alexander Kats, Maj. Jenifer Prosser, along with 1st Lt. Ameshia Stewart, who is assigned to David Grant U.S. Air Force Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base, Calif.
“The Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing is very pleased that this grant will support the scholarship of future military nurse educators and leaders who will advance nursing science and the expansion of evidence-based practice for military and veterans’ health care,” said Dr. Ada Sue Hinshaw, dean of the Inouye Graduate School of Nursing.
About USUThe Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, founded by an act of Congress in 1972, is the nation’s federal health sciences university and the academic heart of the Military Health System. USU students are primarily active duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who receive specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, global health, and acute trauma care. A large percentage of the university’s more than 5,000 physician and nearly 730 advanced practice nursing alumni are supporting operations around the world, offering their leadership and expertise. USU also has graduate programs in biomedical sciences and public health committed to excellence in research, and in oral biology. The University's research program covers a wide range of clinical and other topics important to both the military and public health. For more information about USU and its programs, visit www.usuhs.edu.
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