Academic and Clinical Partnerships Competition (10, two-year grants)

Aalund, Peggy and Irwin, Marsha, Lone Star College - Kingwood in partnership with Kingwood Medical Center Hospital (HCA), Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands, Memorial Hermann-Northeast, Course Redesign for Self-Paced Nursing Students.  $298,561.

Shortages of nurse educators, student attrition and limited enrollment contribute to the nursing shortage.  This project will develop an online, self-paced, precepted, initial licensure RN program to increase student flexibility, extend nurse educators, and increase students’ financial resources. Goals are to redesign curricula, increase clinical capacity, provide a flexible format, and develop work-study partnerships.  Phase 1 will include development of modules and hospital partnerships. Phase 2 will be finalizing online courses and identifying students for two cohorts: second degree or LVN-RN Transition students.  Implementation begins August 2008.  Evaluation of results will include participant satisfaction, retention, clinical performance and NCLEX results.

Cannon, Sharon and Allen, Patricia, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in partnership with Angelo State University, Midwestern State University, The University of Texas El Paso, West Texas A&M University, Cisco Junior College, El Paso Community College, Midland College, Odessa College, South Plains College, Vernon College, and American State Bank, West Texas Nursing Education Portal Project (WTNEPP)  $298,411.

Lack of a standardized application for nursing schools results in duplication of applications, vacant admission slots and the inability to utilize resources to assess, track and retain “at risk” students. The West Texas Nursing Education Portal Project goals are to develop a central application portal and a Regional Retention Initiative to increase graduation rates for schools in the West Texas Nursing Education Consortium. The project objectives are to match student applications with schools, develop a centralized database, track applicants and develop a central retention portal. Project evaluation will be based on cost, vacant slots, increased enrollments and graduation rates.

Diaz, Mary I. and Otto, Debra, The University of Texas - Pan American in partnership with McAllen Medical Center, Edinburg Regional Medical Center, Doctor's Hospital at Renaissance, An Academic Retention Model for Baccalaureate Nursing Students- A Multifaceted Collaboration Approach for the South Texas Region.  $278,781.

The project will address the question: Does identification of scholastic aptitude serve as an early predictor of success in the nursing curriculum? The goals and objectives are to increase enrollment by 10%, identify students risk for incompletion, promote student success, utilize collaborative teaching/clinical preceptors, and increase retention by 20%.  Project activities will include increasing enrollment by 10%, identifying at risk students, retaining students through remediation, and identifying and remediating failing students. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies will be used to determine if the identification of scholastic aptitude serves as an early academic predictor of success, and whether the remediation program and clinical preceptors added to student success.

Etzel, Judy and Hobbins, Bonnie, Lee College in partnership with San Jacinto Methodist Hospital, Streamlined Track of Academics for RN-Transitional at the Work Place:  START at the Work Place.  $273,144.

A community hospital joined forces with the local community college to provide a RN- Transitional program for the LVN staff. Classes will be broadcast to the work site. Hospital staff RN preceptors will work with the students in clinical, supervised by an A.D.N. faculty, serving as a “Coach” to facilitate the students’ success. Goals for this project include: (1) Increase the number of students admitted to the RN-Transitional track; (2) Redesign courses to streamline the RN-Transitional degree plan; and (3) Evaluate the effectiveness of the course redesign for the degree plan. Course exams, standardized testing and NCLEX-RN pass rate will be used to evaluate the success of these efforts.

Fontenot, Debra L. and Durand, Sally, Alvin Community College in partnership with Texas Children's Hospital, Partnership in Academic and Clinical Excellence (PACE). $66,345.

Barriers identified to increasing nursing graduates include lack of clinical sites and failure in didactic courses. A model of delivering pediatric course content in a manner that meets course objectives, maximizes student retention, and provides alternative sites for clinical education will be developed. Activities include frontloading of didactic content, providing simulation in the lab, and utilizing acute care and community-based settings for clinical. A lab coordinator will supervise lab and provide remediation. Evaluation methodology includes results of a clinical-site survey, student retention rates, and student performance on HESI.

Hamilton, Marilyn, Victoria College in partnership with Citizen's Medical Center, University of Houston-Victoria, DeTar Health Care System, Preparing Certified Clinical Instructors.  $150,324.

One of the main factors contributing to the current nursing shortage is the shortage of nursing faculty. The goal of the Certified Clinical Instructor (CCI) Project is to increase the number of qualified clinical faculty by demonstrating that BSN prepared nurses with a minimum of three years clinical experience can, with two post-graduate nursing education courses, become qualified to teach Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) students in the clinical setting.  These CCIs will provide clinical instruction to ADN students from summer 2008 through spring 2009. These students will be compared to ADN students who are being taught by master’s prepared clinical instructors from the Victoria College ADN faculty.  Evaluation of the project will compare course grades, clinical performance as measured by the clinical evaluation tool, standardized test scores and ultimately NCLEX-RN pass rates of students who receive clinical instruction from specially prepared BSN clinical instructors with those who have Master’s prepared clinical instructors.

Klein, Eileen and Ward, Jean, Austin Community College District in partnership with Seton Family of Hospitals, St. David's Healthcare Institute of Learning, and Capital IDEA, Student Tracking and Retention Project (STAR), a Program for Intervention and Retention of At-risk Nursing Students.  $196,903.

The STAR program will target student attrition to address the increased need for nurses created by facility growth and workforce shortages.  Intake assessments/analysis of risk and standardized intervention algorithms will be used to determine and address high risk. Tracking will enable sustained engagement with project students. Tutoring, other interventions, and presentations from diverse and successful nursing role models will improve student determination/retention.  Goals/objectives: a 10% increase in student retention; a 20% increase among more diverse students; and a 10% increase in HESI exit exam scores above 800.  Program evaluation includes data collection on interventions, student outcomes and student satisfaction and identification of best practices.

Richard, Patricia and Brooke, Virginia, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in partnership with The Methodist Hospital, Statewide Collaborations in Clinical Placement.  $219,707.

To meet the goals for increasing the number of registered nurses in the workforce, an efficient method of managing clinical placements is essential to increase the capacity for enrollment. In 2007 the Gulf Coast region implemented the Centralized Clinical Placement System (CCPS) to streamline and facilitate the process and identify underutilized clinical placements. Goals of this project include identifying a region for expansion and implementing the CCPS.  After selecting a region for expansion of the CCPS, an on-site team will be identified and trained to recruit schools of nursing and clinical agencies, maximizing collaboration and increasing clinical placement availability.

Sheriff, Susan and Chaney, Susan, Texas Woman's University in partnership with Baylor University Medical Center–Dallas, Reinventing Nursing Education: An Education and Practice Partnership. $249,777.

This project addresses the problem of the Texas nursing shortage.  The goals of the project are to increase the number of registered nurses in Texas, enhance the availability of nursing as a career to individuals with a non-nursing-baccalaureate degree through a weekend/online undergraduate nursing program, and demonstrate a partnership between Texas Woman’s University and Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC).  BUMC will provide weekend clinical experiences and nursing faculty.  Implementation of the project involves the recruitment, education, and retention of nursing students.  Evaluation of the project is the successful graduation and licensure of 20 nursing students by May 2010. 

Walker, Glenda C., Stephen F. Austin State University in partnership with Angelina College, Kilgore College, Northeast Texas Community College, Panola College, Texarkana College, Trinity Valley Community College, Tyler Junior College, and The University of Texas at Tyler, A Research Model for Identifying and Intervening with At-Risk Nursing Students.  $265,970.

Nine nursing programs in the Region 4 Nursing Education Consortium will address the problem of attrition.  Specific objectives are to develop shared resources, including:  (1) a centralized student database which addresses background, academic, and environmental variables; (2) protocols for identifying at-risk students at the point of entry into the partnering programs; (3) standardized intervention protocols for those students; and (4) to assess effectiveness of the intervention protocols in retaining those students.  Various intervention modes will be used to address academic and environmental variables related to attrition. These modes will include web-based modules and interactive discussion boards.  Quantitative and qualitative data will be used to evaluate program effectiveness.