Hawaii school selected for VA program

[cougarnurse]

Hawaii nursing school chosen for VA program - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has selected the University of Hawaii’s School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene as one of five federally funded sites for a new three-year nursing program.

Hawaii’s nursing school will admit an additional 40 students over the first three years under the VA Nursing Academy’s Enhancing Academic Partnerships Program.

The program is intended to boost professional development among faculty and students and ultimately increase the number of highly trained registered nurses available to work in the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System.

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 22,000 registered nurses in its health-care system will be eligible to retire in 2010.

Launched in 2007, the $40 million partnerships program selects five new sites each academic year, enabling nursing students to train under new clinical practicum sites and participate in telehealth. Also, the school will be able to hire up to 10 new faculty members over the course of the program.

It is not clear how much Hawaii’s nursing school was awarded to administer the program. Dean Mary Boland was traveling on Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

“This partnership will benefit the nursing students at UH and veterans across the Pacific by improving training, encouraging innovation, and developing new ways nurses can furnish care in the community,” said U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka and Sen. Daniel Inouye in a joint statement on Thursday.

Other schools selected in addition to Hawaii were Western Carolina University in Asheville, N.C.; University of Alabama at Birmingham; Pace University in New York City; and Waynesburg University in Pittsburgh.