The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies has received a grant of $30,000 from the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation to support scholarships for students in a new Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP) MSN program. The scholarships will support students in the ACNP program for the 2007-2008 academic year.

“Acute Care Nurse Practitioners are invaluable in responding to hospital-based emergencies,” said Dr. Nilda Peragallo, DrPH, RN, FAAN, dean of University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies. “In many instances, they can help prevent a patient death or avert an Intensive Care Unit admission. Given the critical nursing shortage, the decreasing number of hospital-based physicians, and emergency department overcrowding, ACNPs fill an important void in the local health care system.”