Nursing fellowship offers unique opportunity

The UNMC College of Nursing is offering a unique opportunity for 12 Nebraska nurses to improve their skills and further their education in leadership and primary care practice through a free, yearlong fellowship program.

The UNMC PriCare Fellowship, part of UNMC’s Nurses are Primary program, funded by a four-year, $2.6 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), will provide training in leadership, communication, management, practice transformation, payment models and more.

Kate Fiandt, Ph.D., UNMC College of Nursing professor and associate dean for transformational practice and partnerships, said this advanced training is “mutually beneficial” both for these nurses and their employers.

Dr. Fiandt said clinic managers have been especially enthusiastic about the idea. Many see great potential in their nurses and would love to see them do more.

“What we talk about in nursing is the idea of practicing at the top of your scope of practice,” Dr. Fiandt said.

This can result in better outcomes for patients, a career boost for the nurses, and a stronger bottom line for clinics, Dr. Fiandt said.

But, “They don’t know how to train them, and we do.”

This training takes place over a 12-month period, beginning in September. Training and instruction can be done remotely, at a computer, or at any of UNMC’s five nursing divisions across the state — Omaha, Lincoln, Norfolk, Kearney or Scottsbluff — or a combination of both. The time commitment is one half-day per month, with one to two additional hours of online work and one monthly practice project.

Most of the hands-on projects could be done at work, as part of a regular workday.

Fellowship candidates would preferably be registered nurses, or RNs, working currently or strongly motivated to work in primary care.

Fellowship graduates will earn continuing education credits and will be prepared to take the ANCC Board Exam for Ambulatory Care Nursing Certification (RN-BC).

The program is free to PriCare fellows, thanks to UNMC’s Nurses are Primary program and the HRSA grant.

For more information, go to www.unmcpricare.org or email pricare@unmc.edu. Applications are due Aug. 19.