ASU and Mayo Clinic collaborate on a new joint nursing program

ASU and Mayo Clinic have reached an agreement to collaborate on a new joint nursing program based at Mayo Clinic Hospital in northeast Phoenix.

This new program is being created to increase enrollment capacity for nursing students statewide through the combined resources and clinical strengths of both institutions.

Nursing students will receive their didactic and clinical training using the ASU College of Nursing curriculum taught by faculty composed of master's level registered nurses from Mayo Clinic in classroom and laboratory learning space at Mayo Clinic Hospital.

The ASU College of Nursing – Mayo Clinic campus is scheduled to begin classes with 20 student nurses in August 2005.

“The education of medical professionals, including nursing staff, has been a priority at Mayo Clinic for nearly a century,” says Victor F. Trastek, M.D., chairman, Board of Governors, Mayo Clinic. “This exciting new program with our partners at ASU will contribute significantly to our ability to deliver compassionate, high quality care to patients here in the Valley and beyond.”

“This is a wonderful example of how ASU and Mayo programs complement each other and how we have learned to work together to achieve a higher level of learning,” says Milton Glick, ASU's executive vice president and provost. “Nursing is a critical area of need for Phoenix and the Valley. By bringing this new program together, Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic will help fill those needs for many years to come.”

The new joint nursing program draws on the respective strengths of both organizations. The ASU College of Nursing has a 45-year history of educating professional nurses at undergraduate and graduate levels to provide the highest quality health care to individuals, groups and communities and to critically examine and effectively respond to the changing health care needs of society. As one of the world's premier medical institutions, Mayo Clinic has a long tradition of integrating medical education with clinical practice and research for the benefit of patients everywhere. Mayo trains medical professionals to practice medicine and teach throughout the world.

“We are proud to partner with ASU in this effort. It is an exciting opportunity to bring our clinical knowledge and expertise to the classroom for a new generation of nursing students,” says Debra K. Pendergast, M.S.N., R.N., chairwoman, Division of Nursing Services/associate administrator, Mayo Clinic. “Our nursing staff is looking forward to translating their knowledge and leadership to help prepare nursing students to respond to the health care needs of the communities they will serve.”

“This innovative partnership is a wonderful example of professional collaboration for the benefit of the community,” says Barbara Durand, dean, ASU College of Nursing. “As a graduate of the Mayo Clinic/St. Mary's nursing program in Rochester, Minn., many years ago, I am thrilled that the College of Nursing is partnering with such a quality organization.”

This new program was developed as part of the ongoing collaboration between both organizations in education and research. Mayo Clinic and ASU also are discussing further collaborations involving law and business. They are setting up a joint seed-fund program to pursue cutting-edge research and technology, collaborative research in bioinformatics and bioengineering, and shared office space on each campus.

Last year the two institutions signed an agreement to advance specific research areas, including neuro-imaging, receptor biology, microdevices and vaccine development.

Specific discussions about the ASU College of Nursing – Mayo Clinic campus began in response to the critical shortage of registered nurses at the local, state and national levels. Both Gov. Janet Napolitano and the Arizona State Senate have called on Arizona nursing programs to essentially double their current enrollment by 2007. ASU has committed to provide training to an increasing number of nursing students with the goal of creating a positive impact on the state's clinical work force and better serving the health care needs of the community.

For Mayo Clinic, the new program supports a critical component of their mission — nurturing a scholarly environment of education and research. Establishing a local Mayo campus for a nursing school will provide unique opportunities for students to be mentored and trained by Mayo Clinic nurses in a clinical setting. Students will be integrated into both the patient care unit and Mayo's organizational culture, including the Mayo Clinic Model of Care. This clinical model has helped define the patient care that Mayo Clinic has provided for well over a century — high quality, compassionate medical care delivered by an integrated team of medical professionals in a multi-specialty academic institution.

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