UofL School of Nursing awarded $792,000 grant to develop nursing informatics education

The University of Louisville School of Nursing has earned a $792,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration to develop nursing informatics education for UofL's undergraduate and graduate nursing students as well as practicing nurses from University of Louisville Hospital.

"Today, nurses must be able to process a tsunami of patient data in order to make sound, clinical decisions," explained Marcia Hern, Ed.D., CNS, R.N., dean of the School of Nursing and principal investigator on the project. "This grant gives us the tools we need to prepare our students for this 21st century approach to nursing care and to help our faculty and UofL practicing nurses keep their skills current."

The funds will be used to purchase equipment for the on-campus nursing simulation lab, including a patient simulator, software, iPads and electronic health record simulators, and to hire a technology specialist to assist with development of the program.

"These additions greatly enhance the capabilities of our nursing simulation lab," said co-investigator Heather Owens, MSN, BSN, coordinator of educational simulation at the School of Nursing.

Lessons learned in the simulation lab will be reinforced through monthly brown bag luncheons at the School of Nursing and at University of Louisville Hospital, where nurses use an electronic health record system similar to the new simulators.

"Nurses today use many forms of technology in their practice. Integrating the concepts of nursing informatics will enable better utilization," said co-investigator Linda Goss, MSN, ARNP-BC, CIC, COHN-S, director of Infection Prevention and Control at University Hospital.

The school will also bring in national consultants to assist its nursing informatics task force with planning, curriculum development and a training initiative evaluation plan.

"This training initiative will allow the School of Nursing and UofL Hospital to recruit nursing leaders in informatics and ultimately to establish a national presence in nursing informatics education," Hern noted.