The University of Colorado College of Nursing is drawing on federal grants to achieve possible students far beyond the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the university more than $700,000 to fund i-LEAD, a new master’s program created to expand access to training in rural and underserved urban places within the region. The grant was awarded through the DHHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration.
The i-LEAD program will consist of a 30-credit master’s course in nursing leadership and health-care techniques. The plan will consist of multiple choices for graduation, including an extra 12 credits for specialization in Executive Leadership or specialization in Healthcare Informatics.
The new program will provide 10 new courses and a rubric that incorporates online learning resources, elements which will permit students to take classes from remote locations.
“It allows us to reach nurses who are already in rural areas and supply them with the tools to advance their careers in the areas of leadership and health techniques administration,” mentioned Amy Barton, professor and associate dean for Clinical and Community Affairs at the College of Nursing. “Because the program is completely on the internet, they don’t need to come to campus.”
The grant comes less than two months after Barton was tabbed since the Daniel and Janet Mordecai Endowed Chair in Rural Health Nursing in the school, a position funded by a $1.9-million donation from College of Nursing alumna Janet Mordecai. The endowment includes fellowships for rural health graduate student programs and initiatives in the university level.
Since the new chair from the Rural Health Nursing endowment, Barton said the latest grant from the Department of Health and Human Services will help expand the school’s reach outside from the Denver metro area. It will also operate to address a statewide shortage of nursing professionals in both rural and urban environments, she said.
“I think one of the key characteristics of the plan is that it prepares nurses for advanced roles in administration or informatics. It offers them information about how health techniques work so that they can better serve their patients,” Barton said. “I’m just delighted that the grant was funded and that we is going to be able to strengthen nursing across the state.”