Miami Dade College and Florida International University partnered to receive a $1,282,500 grant titled “Expanded Nursing Capacity and Diversity Initiative” from the Florida Department of Education. The grant is part of the Succeed Florida RFP Program approved by the Florida Legislature this year.
The grant is a collaborative effort between MDC and FIU to address the critical shortage of registered nurses and nursing faculty in the region since statistics show only 574 registered nurses for every 100,000 residents in Miami-Dade County. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there will be more than one million vacant positions for registered nurses by 2010a year when the first of our countrys 78 million baby boomers turns 65. In Florida alone, a current shortage of 34,000 nurses is expected to result in a 33 percent shortfall by 2020.
The $1,282,500 grant will have a direct impact on the local nurse supply in two immediate ways: it will increase the number of nurses who can be educated at FIU and MD, while also educating new nursing professors, who will, in turn, help educate more nurses.
This project enables MDC and FIU to increase capacity and nursing workforce diversity by admitting 222 new students (128 at MDC and 94 at FIU). In addition, it allows the institutions to recruit, develop and retain nursing faculty through the collaborative “Grow Our Own Nursing Faculty” project. Moreover, the grant allows MDC and FIU to implement innovative practices in nursing education through new technology, including the joint use of clinical simulators and video conferencing and Web-based equipment among other enhancements.
At FIU, 70 new students will be admitted to the Foreign Physician Nursing Program, an 18-month curriculum that retrains doctors who are not licensed to practice in the United States to become nurses. Under the sponsorship of grants from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Hospital Corporation of America East Florida Division, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Cedars Medical Center and Mercy Hospital the program has already graduated a total of 80 new nurses. A third group is set to graduate in December.
“The Department of Education grant has breathed new life into this very successful program which is serving as a model nationally,” said FIU School of Nursing Dean Divina Grossman. “This funding will change lives and improve health care in South Florida.”
The grant also makes possible 24 new slots in the masters in nurse education track, also known as the Grow Our Own Nursing Faculty project.
“We are extremely pleased with this grant award and to partner with FIU to expand educational opportunities for the residents of our community in an exciting and rewarding field that provides well-paying, quality jobs and that can have an impact on health care in our region,” said Mary Kontz, Director of MDCs School of Nursing. “I am certain this will allow our programs and institutions to make significant progress in addressing the shortage of registered nurses in the region and beyond.”
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