When Paula Spears, PhD, learned the grant application she authored was selected as the Nursing Institute of the Mid South (NIMS) Inc.’s first federal competitive grant to boost the nursing workforce across the region, she was understandably ecstatic.

 

Spears, executive director of NIMS, who will serve as principle investigator for the grant program, explained at a reception earlier this year how the 3-year, $1 million grant would help develop clinical nurses in Memphis and across the Mid South. 

 

“It’s exciting to bring external federal funding to nursing workforce development for our community and it’s definitely a win-win for all involved,” said Spears, who has invited other Mid South healthcare organizations to join the collaborative. “We’ve met with several regional healthcare organizations throughout the Mid South and have gotten very positive responses.”

 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) grant last July. NIMS is a member collaborative comprised of local healthcare systems and schools of nursing, funding through an Assisi Foundation grant and partner support. Nurse executives and deans of major universities serve on the Board of Directors and govern the policies and strategies of the institute. The non-profit organization has the mission to facilitate a quality regional nursing workforce that drives care in a changing healthcare environment. 

 

NIMS associate director Allyson Murry, who joined the organization last November to facilitate the implementation of the new grant program, “Developing Clinical Nurses: Accountability and Responding to the Challenges for Today and Tomorrow,” said the new program is a consultative, collaborative, continuing education program designed to improve the knowledge, skills and competencies of registered nurses for leadership at the bedside. Nurses will learn new skills, participate in cross-community learning and create improvements in their unit’s culture and selected patient outcomes. The program is officially known as “EPIC” for clinical nurses leading “Excellence in Practice, Innovation and Care.”

 

The training, which began in February, will include clinical nurses from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The Regional Medical Center at Memphis, Veterans’ Administration Hospital at Memphis, St. Francis Hospital, and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. NIMS academic partners and faculty will be involved in curriculum leadership of the program and include University of Tennessee Health Science Center, University of Memphis, Union University and Southwest Tennessee Community College.