Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has bestowed $792,000 on the University of Louisville School of Nursing with an eye towards helping it develop a nursing informatics program for the school's undergraduate and graduate students, as well as for practicing nurses from University of Louisville Hospital.
The program will help prepare UofL nurses for jobs in a health system where information technology is essential to providing care.
"Today, nurses must be able to process a tsunami of patient data in order to make sound, clinical decisions," explained Marcia Hern, dean of the School of Nursing and principal investigator on the project. "This grant gives us the tools we need to prepare our students for this 21st century approach to nursing care and to help our faculty and UofL practicing nurses keep their skills current."
The funds from the grant will be used to purchase equipment for the on-campus nursing simulation lab – including a patient simulator, software, iPads and electronic health record simulators – and to hire a technology specialist to assist with development of the program.
"These additions greatly enhance the capabilities of our nursing simulation lab," said co-investigator Heather Owens, coordinator of educational simulation at the School of Nursing.
Lessons learned in the simulation lab will be reinforced through monthly meetings at the School of Nursing and at University of Louisville Hospital, where nurses use an electronic health record system similar to the new simulators.
"Nurses today use many forms of technology in their practice," said co-investigator Linda Goss, director of infection prevention and control at University Hospital. "Integrating the concepts of nursing informatics will enable better utilization."
The school will also bring in national consultants to assist its nursing informatics task force with planning, curriculum development and a training initiative evaluation plan.
"This training initiative will allow the School of Nursing and UofL Hospital to recruit nursing leaders in informatics and ultimately to establish a national presence in nursing informatics education," Hern added.
