Two Indiana University School of Nursing professors have been awarded a $3 million, four-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support a workforce development program designed to increase the number of registered nurses prepared to serve rural and medically underserved communities across Indiana.
Kathleen Williamson, PhD, RN, and Deanna Reising, PhD, RN, designed the Indiana Rural Nursing Workforce Pathway and Clinical Residency Network (IRN Network) to strengthen the pipeline of practice-ready nurses who understand the communities they serve and are prepared to care for patients in settings where resources may be limited. Funding from HRSA’s Nurse Education, Practice, Quality, and Retention – Transition to Practice Program (NEPQR-TPP) will help make the initiative possible.
“Indiana is facing a nursing workforce challenge that is really about both capacity and access,” said Williamson, associate dean of the School of Nursing’s Fort Wayne campus. “We need more nurses, but we also need to make sure nurses are prepared and available in the communities where they are needed most.”
Preparing nurses for rural care
To address both needs, the IRN Network combines community-based clinical training, simulation-enhanced education, mentoring, and faculty and preceptor development—components that together can better prepare nursing students for the realities of practice.
“Students are not only developing their nursing skills, but they are also learning to think about how care changes when resources, staffing, access to specialists, transportation, or community services may be limited,” Williamson explained. “They begin to see the patient within the context of the community and the healthcare system around them.”
That preparation is intended to begin before students encounter those challenges in clinical practice.
“The IRN Network prepares students to practice in rural nursing environments by stepping them through evidence-based educational approaches designed to transition them through formal training that will prepare them for entry level rural nursing,” said Reising, a professor on the school’s Bloomington campus.
“Simulation-enhanced education provides students with the opportunity to practice specialized rural nursing skills ahead of clinical practice, and prepare for higher-risk, lower occurrence situations that may not be often encountered in the clinical setting,” Reising added. “Faculty and preceptor development encircle the future rural nurses as they progress through community-based clinical training supported by experienced rural nurses mentoring them into the profession.”
Meeting Indiana's healthcare needs
Connections with clinical and community partners are also central to the IRN Network. Employers and practicing nurses can help identify areas where new graduates face the greatest challenges, allowing those realities to be incorporated into students’ educational experiences.
“Ultimately, this program is about connecting nursing education more intentionally to Indiana's workforce needs,” Williamson said. “If we can expose students to these communities, prepare them well for the challenges they will encounter, and build meaningful connections between education and practice, we have a greater opportunity to develop nurses who are not only ready to enter the workforce, but who are also prepared to make a difference in the Indiana communities that need them most.”