The grant will support the University’s nurse practitioner and nurse midwifery programs.
Fairfield University and the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies have been awarded a four-year grant of $2.64 million from the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) program. Joyce Shea, DNSc, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, associate dean for Graduate Studies, and Jackie Conelius, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, track coordinator for the Family Nurse Practitioner Program, are co-principal investigators for the project, called the Telehealth and Inter-Professional Practice (TIPP) program.
“Once again, we are thrilled that Fairfield University and the Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies have been selected to receive the latest of these valuable training grants that allow us to offer the highest quality programs for our family nurse practitioner, psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, and nurse midwifery students,” said Dr. Shea.
The grant will support the University’s nurse practitioner and nurse midwifery programs. In addition to providing tuition support for the students, this grant will help Fairfield Egan develop curriculum in the area of telehealth, including the use of digital information and technologies to access healthcare services remotely – a practice that has risen in popularity within the medical field in recent years. Telehealth offers improved access to care; mounting evidence supports the use of telehealth with patients who have chronic illnesses, cognitive impairments, mental health issues, or physical rehabilitation needs.
The grant funds will also provide an opportunity for students to work effectively in inter-professional teams, and to incorporate evidence-based telehealth approaches in delivering care to underserved patients across the lifespan.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is the primary Federal agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is committed to improving health and access to healthcare for the medically underserved through quality services, a skilled health workforce, and innovative programs.
