Nursing Education to Receive More than $100 Million in HHS Grants

The US Department of Health and Human Services has announced $159.1 million in grants to healthcare workforce training programs, with the largest share— $106 million—going to support nursing education.

 

The rest of the funds will be spent on training geriatric specialists and improve the performance and recruitment of underrepresented minority students.

 

“We cannot build a healthier America if our country continues to face a growing health professions shortage. A well-trained, educated, and diverse workforce is critical to meeting future healthcare demands, and to reforming the nation’s health care system,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

 

The $106 million in nursing education grants will be allocated as follows:

·         Advanced Nursing Education ($42 million) supports 153 infrastructure grants to increase advanced education to train nurses as primary care providers and/or nursing faculty.

·         Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship (16 million) supports 351 schools of nursing and individuals preparing for careers as nurse specialists, requiring advanced education.

·         Nurse Anesthetist Traineeship ($1.3 million) funds 83 nurse anesthetist training programs

·         Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention ($29.9 million) supports 108 infrastructure grants to expand the capacity of the nursing pipeline, promote career mobility, prepare more nurses at the baccalaureate level, and provide continuing education to enhance the quality of patient care.

·         Nursing Workforce Diversity ($14.3 million) supports 44 grants that increase nursing education opportunities for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, including racial and ethnic minorities underrepresented among registered nurses.

·         Faculty Development: Integrated Technology into Nursing Education and Practice Initiative ($2.5 million) supports nine grants for faculty development projects in information and other technologies.

 

“In addition to training new healthcare workers, these grants will support efforts to better prepare healthcare workers to care for our diverse and aging population, improving healthcare quality for all Americans,” said Mary K. Wakefield, PhD, RN, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration.