Table of Contents
$2 Million Study Tests Way to Increase Number of Nurses
Collaborative project uses preceptors for nursing students’ clinical education
Two grants totaling nearly $2 million aim to make Texas a winner in increasing the number of desperately needed nurses in the workforce.
Renae Schumann, Ph.D.
Ten nursing schools and up to 17 hospitals will test new ways to increase the number of students that clinical education sites can accommodate. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has provided $1.5 million for the three-year project, called Workforce Increases in Nurses and Nursing Faculty: Excellence in Resource Collaboration (WINNER). Matching grants from the Dunn Foundation and the Good Samaritan Foundation will provide the remainder of the funds.
One of the stumbling blocks to educating larger numbers of nurses has been the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners requirement that during clinical education at hospitals, every 10 students must be supervised by a faculty member with a master's degree in nursing and a specific amount of clinical education. The problem, said Renae Schumann, Ph.D., assistant professor of acute and continuing care at The University of Texas School of Nursing at Houston, is that "there aren't a great number of master's prepared nurses in the academic arena."
In addition, it's diffi- cult to provide clinical instruction for 10 students in a single unit at smaller area hospitals. "They can't even support five students per unit because the units are physically too small," said Schumann, who is principal investigator for the WINNER project.
"We could educate a lot more nursing students if there were some changes. This study looks at teaching associate and bachelor degreed nurses working in hospitals how to be clinical preceptors," Schumann said. The Board of Nurse Examiners does allow the use of preceptors, she said, but that clinical education model has not been widely developed in nursing.
Participating Schools |
Bachelor of Science Associate Degree |
Confirmed Participating Hospitals |
| Memorial Hermann Hospital and others in the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System Methodist Hospital St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital Texas Children’s Hospital UT Medical Branch at Galveston Harris County Hospital District Ben Taub Hospital LBJ Hospital |
"During the study, a master's prepared faculty coordinator from each school will mentor up to 12 nurse preceptors. In turn, each of the preceptors will work with a maximum of two students. That will bring the ratio of students to master's prepared faculty member to 24 to 1, as compared to the current traditional model with a 10 to 1 ratio," Schumann explained.
The new preceptors will have access to faculty coordinators 24/7 using project-dedicated cell phones, as well as required online training and abundant online resources regarding the students' focus of study for each week. The online training for preceptors covers adult education, clinical evaluation, student situations and use of technology in clinicals. Faculty periodically will visit preceptors and students to evaluate student learning and to provide support for the preceptors.
At the participating hospitals, the preceptors will have access to handheld computers, which allow guest access to the students' online course information. An online preceptor newsletter will enable preceptors at the various hospitals to communicate with each other.
Another difference in this new approach, Schumann said, is that students work the same schedule as the preceptor instead of having a set day and time each week.
While in a traditional clinical model, students select the patient for whom they will provide care, with the preceptor model, the students assist the preceptor in care of all the preceptor's patients and are assigned one of those patients as their own focus.
Schumann and Linda Dune, Ph.D., also assistant professor of acute and continuing care at the School of Nursing, are co-directors of the WINNER study. (See lists of confirmed participating schools and hospitals, below.) The UT School of Nursing has two smaller studies in the same subject area, which began last fall with Memorial Hermann Hospital and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital.
"This is an all-around collaborative effort," Schumann said. "There is collaboration among institutions, faculty, personnel and students. We look forward to the results of the study, which we believe will give us ways to educate students more quickly and in more 'real world' situations. These better prepared students become employees of the hospitals and, we hope, in turn become preceptors for the students who will follow them."
By Pamela Lewis, Public Affairs