A new partnership between
the Arizona State University (ASU)
Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation and Phoenix Children’s Hospital will
create new opportunities for ASU nursing students to fill the nursing workforce
pipeline with nurses specialized in pediatric care. The partnership has created
a first-of-its-kind pediatric Dedicated Education Unit (DEU)
for undergraduate, pre-licensure nursing students.
One of those students, Jessica Wald, tells asunow.asu.edu, “For those of us in the DEU program, we felt a greater sense of accountability and responsibility for our patients. For example, we were all assigned our own computer logins, so we did patient charting under our own names.”
The DEU is structured to give students
pediatric-focused clinical hours at the patient bedside at Phoenix Children’s
Hospital. It’s a competitive program that requires students to apply for the
program and take it as an elective course during their junior year. The
specialized training helps develop nurses who are confident in their ability to
care for pediatric populations.
Arizona is expected to see a shortage
of 28,000 nurses by 2025 with the biggest gaps in specialized areas like
neonatal intensive care. ASU’s partnership with Phoenix Children’s Hospital is
part of an ongoing effort to prepare specialized workforce-ready nurses at the
undergraduate level.
To learn more about the new
partnership between Arizona State University and
Phoenix Children’s Hospital to launch pediatric-specific nursing programs,
visit here.
Leaders from both institutions recently formed a joint operating committee to enhance education, research efforts, and train the next generation of pediatric clinical talent. ASU’s Edson College of Nursing created a Dedicated Education Unit (DEU) for pre-licensure nursing students and collaborated on the development of the Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Certificate Program Curriculum for graduate-level nursing students.
Julie Bowman, Chief Nursing Officer at Phoenix Children’s, tells PRNewswire.com, “Our primary goal is to develop high quality, nationally renowned pediatric nursing programs that offer students increased time at the pediatric patient bedside. A DEU like the one at Phoenix Children’s is one of the first of its kind in pediatrics, and this program helps develop ‘workforce ready’ nurses who are confident in their ability to work with young patients.”
The new DEU program includes a pediatric elective with course credits for pre-licensure nursing students interested in pediatric care, and gives students a total of 72 focused hours of time at the patient bedside at Phoenix Children’s. The program sets students up for success by pairing them with a dedicated Phoenix Children’s nurse preceptor for students to shadow for six full nursing shifts. Hospital staff also gain early insights into prospective nurses who may wish to join the Phoenix Children’s team.
To complete the program, students complete a major intervention project where they identify an issue in patient care, conduct ongoing research, and implement a solution within a department. Their insights and research outcomes become a crucial part of the Phoenix Children’s care model. This gives ASU nursing students an opportunity to learn nurse management and improve pediatric care on a broad scale in one of the fastest growing cities in the US.
To learn more about the new partnership between the Arizona State University College of Nursing and Phoenix Children’s Hospital to help prepare future pediatric nurses, visit here.
Arizona State University (ASU) has recently received a $50 million donation to support research into dementia. The donation came from Charlene and J. Orin Edson, and the ASU College of Nursing will appropriately be renamed the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation.
The gift is one of the largest in the university’s history. $25 million of the donation will go to ASU’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation and $25 million will go to the Biodesign Institute. The funding going to the College of Nursing will fund research and education on dementia causes and care. A new center will also be built and named the Grace Center for Innovation in Nursing Education, named for Charlene’s mother who was a nurse.
The Edson’s have previously donated to ASU and their gifts currently total more than $65 million. The Edson family released a statement saying, “We believe in ASU’s interdisciplinary, collaborative approach to finding solutions. We look forward to new discoveries and solutions to better the quality of life for people affected by brain disease and the heartache of those that love them.”
The Edson’s gift will allow ASU to bring people from varied disciplines together to advance research and treatment and attempt to find a cure for dementia. The funding will go toward two focuses: one on causes and diagnosis of dementia and the other on ways to help dementia patients, their caregivers, and their families. The university already has a vested interest in dementia research but the donation will help the College of Nursing attract new talent and host an annual international symposium.
To learn more about the $50 million donation to the Arizona State University College of Nursing to fund dementia research, visit here.
While their Tempe campus has hosted their business,
engineering, and design schools for a long time, the health-centered colleges are
based in the downtown Phoenix and West campuses. Combining the resources and
strengths from these schools and ASU’s office of Entrepreneurship and
Innovation creates opportunities for nursing and health students pursuing their
bachelors and masters degrees, both in the classroom and in the workplace.
From Classroom to Competition to Career
Students are already showing major successes from the program, as shared by the Phoenix Business Journal. Ramona Ramadas, who has been pursuing her Masters in Healthcare Innovation through ASU’s online courses, recently competed in the Nurse-Pitch competition at the 2019 Healthcare and Management Systems Society conference and placed third. Her startup, New Trails Navigators, is an AI-driven platform designed to train incarcerated inmates, prepping to release and re-enter the workforce, to begin a career in healthcare. The mentoring and networking Ms. Ramada has been able to gain through the HEALab has helped her win three additional competitions and awards, including the Pakis Social Entrepreneurship Challenge and the Alliance for the American Dream.
In addition to being a resource for Arizona State students, the HEALab has been used by students at other schools. Back in February, students from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine visited the lab and other school campuses and centers, through a week long Entrepreneurship and Innovation selective with Dr. Rick Hall, CONHI’s Senior Director of Health Innovation. These students used applied human-centered design techniques and lean startup business tools to develop application ideas.
The HEALab offers monthly guest speakers and one-on-one mentoring to all ASU community members, faculty, and students, including those from different campuses, and those taking online coursework. For more information about the HEALab, click here.
Correction, March 27, 2019: We initially reported that New Trails Navigators works with newly incarcerated inmates, instead of inmates who are preparing to release and re-enter the workforce. We have edited the article to reflect this correction.
Daniel Crawford, associate director of the DNP program and clinical assistant professor, believes the pediatric nursing program will prepare advanced practice nurses in the acute-care setting. He tells ASUNow.ASU.edu, “Those settings may include pediatric emergency rooms, pediatric intensive-care units, pediatric inpatient-care units and some pediatric specialties.”
Students who join the program can expect a hybrid format that requires in-person classes and online classes. The courses will focus on the development of a framework for developmentally supportive, family-centered, culturally appropriate advanced-practice nursing for infants and children with unstable chronic, complex acute, and life-threatening illnesses.
ASU’s Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program is one of few in the country and will help prepare advanced practice nurses to treat a vulnerable population in need of specialized care. To learn more about ASU’s new pediatric nursing program, visit here.
