Interprofessional Grand Rounds
St. Vincent Hospital Evansville hosted an Interprofessional Grand Rounds on Oct. 25, 2018 at St. Vincent amphitheater. The interprofessional team included health care professionals from multiple disciplines, including all the disciplines represented in the USI College of Nursing and Health Professions. The presenters shared two complex patient cases followed by an in-depth discussion of what went well and what they might have done better based on what they learned. Students and faculty were encouraged to ask questions afterwards since it is meant to be an interactive learning experience for everyone. The event was well received by faculty and professionals in attendance.
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Registered Nurses in Primary Care (RNPC) Training Program
The College of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Southern Indiana has received a four-year grant of more than $2 million to increase the number of registered nurses trained in primary care to positively impact health in rural communities. The purpose is to recruit and train nursing students and current registered nurses (RNs) to practice to the full scope of their license in community-based primary care teams to increase access to care, with an emphasis on chronic disease prevention and control, including mental health and substance use conditions.
Funding is from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) division of Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR). HRSA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The USI College of Nursing and Health Professions will create four academic practice partnerships with two rural hospitals serving surrounding counties with limited access to health care and two county health departments. In addition to enhancing primary care in rural areas, the grant will allow ample clinical opportunities for USI undergraduate students. “In our nursing curriculum, we plan to focus on population health, primary care in medically underserved communities and interprofessional education and practice to prepare our students for these clinical experiences,” said Dr. Ann White, dean of the USI College of Nursing and Health Professions.
Partnering with USI for all four years of the grant project will be Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center based in Jasper, Indiana. Memorial Hospital serves Dubois County and seven surrounding counties with 31 health care clinics. In July 2019, Memorial Hospital will open a new facility that will include a family medicine residency program in affiliation with IU School of Medicine.
"The opportunity to educate registered nurses in an outpatient primary care setting integrates well with our initiative to train the next generation of Family Physicians at our family medicine residency program,” said Dr. Stan Tretter, vice president of Medical Affairs and chief medical officer at Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center. “Working side by side, this interprofessional collaboration of nurses and physicians is the future of high-quality health care for the patients of our community.”
Tonya Heim, vice president of Patient Services and chief nursing officer at Memorial, agreed that the goal is to develop a “change process” for utilizing registered nurses to improve efficiency and outcomes.
“As a healthcare organization, we have certainly witnessed the shift of patient care from the acute to the ambulatory setting,” said Heim. “This partnership with USI will help define and implement a new model of care for RNs in primary care practice.”
